Troubled Malaysian automaker Proton said it may sell a stake to a foreign company as it launched a campaign to improve its brand image.

Proton is in talks with several partners for a "strategic core alliance," managing director Syed Zainal Abidin Syed Mohamed Tahir told a news conference yesterday.

He declined to elaborate on a deal that he said Proton hoped to announce "very quickly."

A Proton spokesman said the company was looking for a compatible partner.

"We are definitely still looking for a strong partner and it could involve equity partnership," the spokesman told AFP.

"As long as we share the same philosophy, that's the sort of partner Proton is looking for," he said.

Proton has recently said that it was in talks with several potential mainland Chinese partners about a possible deal.

The embattled carmaker's search for tie-ups follows the collapse of negotiations in January with Volkswagen as a potential strategic partner after the two disagreed over equity stakes.

Critics have warned that the technologically-weak Proton has to take a bolder approach for its long-term survival and allow a stronger carmaker to take up a controlling stake in it.

Crisis situation

Proton recently revived a technical pact, with no equity participation, with former partner Japanese carmaker Mitsubishi to produce much-needed new models.

But Proton has struggled with a reputation for producing mediocre and unimaginative models and Syed Zainal Abidin acknowledged the company was "at a crisis situation in terms of quality."

"We want to get the engine moving, we must pick up momentum," he said after launching a campaign to prod Proton workers into greater awareness about car quality at a plant west of Kuala Lumpur.

He earlier addressed hundreds of the factory's workers, urging them to help Proton make better cars that would appeal to buyers.

The national carmaker is struggling to reverse a steady decline in market share, which fell to 41 percent in 2005 from 60 percent in 2002, as foreign competitors embark on aggressive campaigns to woo Malaysian drivers.