Malaysia drops plan to source cars from India

Malaysia's leading carmaker 'Proton' has shelved plans to source cars from India.

Proton was reported to be in talks with Hindustan Motors for sourcing cars manufactured either in semi-knocked-down or completely-knocked-down condition.

"Proton is believed to have decided not to come to India to purchase cars manufactured by us, at least for the time being," Hind Motor managing director A Sankara Narayanan said on Thursday.

Narayanan told reporters after the company's 61st annual general meeting that both the companies were using Mitsubishi technology and so a collaborative venture in India for manufacturing cars would be to the advantage of both.

Earlier, Hind Motor chairman C K Birla said in order to meet the increasing level of competition in the industry, the company was taking steps to widen the product range.

"A new variant of Lancer with a more powerful 1.8 litre petrol engine is to be launched towards the end of 2003," he informed.

Birla said after the recent launch of the improvised version of Ambassador, styled as 'Ambassador Grand', additional demand from the private user segment was expected apart from the existing demand from the institutions and the government segment.