A report that Proton may be selling up to 51 percent of the company to foreign investors has been welcomed by industry observers.

Yeah Kim Leng, professor of economics at Sunway University Business School, said this is long overdue "largely because of the uneconomical scale that Proton is operating on".

Both Yeah and Malaysian Automotive Association president Aishah Ahmad said that Proton needed a strategic partner, and this would greatly benefit the company.