KUALA LUMPUR (May 24): There will be no retrenchments at Proton Holdings Bhd, said DRB-Hicom Bhd group managing director Datuk Seri Syed Faisal Albar after inking an agreement to sell a 49.9% stake in the national car maker to China's Zhejiang Geely Holding Group Co Ltd (Geely).

Instead of retrenchment, Syed Faisal said there will be a growth in employees.

"The Chinese automaker would also be taking leadership in Proton's production management and sales and marketing divisions," Syed Faisal said.

Geely's contributions to Proton will include technology, global talents, and capital injections, according to Geely vice chairman and chief financial officer Daniel Li.

Geely's partnership with Proton will be focused on helping the Proton brand to grow with a target of 500,000 cars across Southeast Asia by 2020 through the partnership.

Syed Faisal highlighted it would be similar to how Geely maintained Volvo's logo on its headboards as it understood Swedish pride in the brand.

Meanwhile, Second Finance Minister Datuk Johari Abdul Ghani said Proton will still need to repay its RM1.25 billion soft loan from the government.

Separately, it is entitled to a RM1.1 billion reimbursement from the government for research and development (R&D), he said, adding Proton has spent some RM3.5 billion for R&D so far.

However, Syed Faisal said this has not been seen by DRB-Hicom in writing yet, and that it was the first he had heard of the reimbursement.

Johari went on to stress that "Proton will always remain a national car and a source of national pride".

Proton will also maintain its industrial linkage programmes as it keeps its national car status, said Johari, as he reassured Proton's staff, vendors and dealers that they would have to "worry no longer".