According to the newspapers, Volkswagen intends to buy 51% of Proton, the malaysian car manufacturer. The sum expected to be payed by VW is somewhere around $500m.

Why is VW interested? Simple really. Malaysia has a free trade agreement with Japan and is negociating the same thing with the US and Australia. This would give a VW car like Passat a significant boost in those markets if it were to be produced in Malaysia and then exported.