The joint venture between DRB-Hicom and Geely to develop the 1,000-acre Automotive Hi-Tech Valley (AHTV) project in Tanjung Malim will be a highlight of this year’s 50th anniversary celebration of diplomatic relations between Malaysia and China, said China’s state-owned media China Daily.

Geely is investing USD10 billion (~RM46.8 billion) to develop the area into one of the biggest automotive manufacturing hubs in Southeast Asia.

The development of AHTV will span 10 years, but Proton will relocate production at its old Shah Alam to Tanjung Malim by 2026. Vendors will also be relocating to Tanjung Malim starting this year.

Wei Mei, senior vice-president of Geely Holding Group and CEO of Geely International Holdings (Malaysia) told China Daily that by 2035, AHTV will support the production of 500,000 cars in Tanjung Malim, half of which will be exported.

“It will produce vehicles bearing the Proton marque as well as Geely's brands,” said the report by China Daily.

Next week, Proton will announce a new brand for a new line of electric vehicle models. The company didn’t say if these will be fully electric BEVs or hybrids, because Chinese manufacturers often use EV term rather loosely (Proton described the mild-hybrid Proton X90 as a 'new energy vehicle').

In 2019, Geely previewed the budget-focused Geometry brand in Singapore, but nothing came out of it. Later in 2022, one unit of Geely Emgrand GSe (sister-car to Geometry C, now re-branded as Geometry M6) was spotted in Malaysia, using temporary trade plates registered to Proton.

In November 2021, Geely’s announcement for its mid-term 2025 business plan mentioned Malaysia as one of its target destinations for overseas expansion.

In 2023, Geely restructured its 49.9% ownership of Proton, transferring its shares to an affiliate proxy company Linkstate Overseas Limited (LoL).

The move is to pave the way for Geely’s direct entry into Malaysia, and to avoid potential legal hurdles caused by conflict of interest from its direct ownership of Proton.