Proton Holdings, a unit of DRB-Hicom, has allocated 600 million ringgit (Bt5 billion) to develop new car engines with engineering partners in Britain, as the Malaysian carmaker plots its return to European markets.

The new engines, which will meet tough European emission standards, are expected to be ready by the end of 2017.

“The cost of development of these new engines will be amortised within the volume that we are doing [manufacturing] over the life of the vehicles. This is a new technology, and obviously you will have to pay a little bit more for the new technology. We are trying to manage our costs to ensure we are competitive,” Proton Holdings chief executive officer Abdul Harith Abdullah said.

The development of these engines will enable it to re-enter the European car market once again as these engines will comply with the Euro 6C emissions standards post-2020.

The engines will be developed in England in collaboration with Ricardo Plc, a global engineering consultancy in Shoreham-by-the-Sea.

The development of all six variants of the new engines will take 40 months to complete: the 1-litre three-cylinder VVT, 1.2-litre three-cylinder VVT, 1.3-litre four-cylinder GDI, 1.5-litre four-cylinder GDI, 1.3-litre four-cylinder turbocharged GDI and the 1.5-litre four-cylinder TGDI.

The engines will be able to work on the widely used unleaded petrol fuel grade, RON-95, the engineers said in a teleconference from Britain on Monday. – The Star

VNPost, Dai-ichi Life

Vietnam sign agreement

Vietnam Post Corporation (VNPost) and Dai-ichi Life Insurance Vietnam signed a long-term exclusive life-insurance agency agreement at a ceremony held on Monday in Hanoi.

Under the framework of the agreement, Dai-ichi Life Vietnam will be the exclusive business partner providing life-insurance products through VNPost’s network of post offices in 64 provinces all over Vietnam over the next 15 years.

Dai-ichi Life Vietnam will introduce VNPost products and postal services to its customers while VNPost will also promote the distribution of superior financial protection products offered by Dai-ichi Life Vietnam through its network of post offices.

At the same time, all customers who joined an insurance-policy scheme with Dai-ichi Life Vietnam will be able to pay their premiums through the collection services at more than 11,000 current service points of VNPost. “The cooperation is part of our strategy to diversify distribution channels of Dai-ichi Life Vietnam in efforts to create opportunities for everyone in Vietnam to gain access to the company’s life-insurance products and services, especially those living in rural and remote areas,” said Takashi Fujii, chairman of the member council of Dai-ichi Life Vietnam.

Do Ngoc Binh, chairman of the member council of VNPost, said sustainable development of life-insurance through the post-office network had become one among VNPost’s fundamental services, aiming to facilitate access of life-insurance schemes to people in remote areas, as well as ensuring education funds, wealth and increasing income for Vietnamese.

Also on Monday, Dai-ichi Life Insurance Vietnam officially received the amended licence allowing the company to increase its chartered capital from 1,141 billion dong (Bt1.86 billion) up to 1,477 billion dong.

– Viet Nam News

Employers in Singapore

plan to increase headcount

In spite of modest economic-growth projections, the employment outlook for Singapore is on an upward trajectory, recruitment firm Hudson found in its latest survey. The half-yearly survey of employers found that 41 per cent planned to increase headcount in this year and only 6 per cent to decrease it, giving a net effect of 35 per cent. The majority (53 per cent) are planning to maintain current headcount.

The net effect of intention to hire stands at 35.8 per cent, up from 32.1 per cent in June. Hudson calculated net effect by subtracting the percentage of employers planning to decrease headcount from the percentage of those planning to increase it.

“Employers are feeling confident enough to put hiring back on the agenda,” said Emmanuel White, regional director of Hudson Singapore.

“During 2015, the hiring outlook declined in light of concerns about the slowing Chinese economy and volatility in global financial markets. However, the regional economy has [proved] to be reasonably resilient, and while Singapore’s economic-growth forecast may be subdued, we are still seeing growth in certain industries, and employers are taking note.” Of those employers planning to add headcount, 69 per cent are doing so because of organisational growth, suggesting that 2016 will see an uptick in competition for talent.

– The Straits Times