Proton Holdings Berhad has announced the appointment of Ainol Azmil as covering Deputy Chief Executive Officer, with effect from June 10, 2025. He will take over the responsibilities of Roslan Abdullah, who is leaving after a term of 5 years in the position of Deputy CEO.
While covering for the Deputy CEO’s role in Proton, Encik Ainol will maintain his existing portfolio in Corporate Strategy and Group Technical Procurement. As the company has used the term ‘covering’, it is possible that the board may also be looking at having someone else as Deputy CEO.
With Proton having DRB-HICOM as the majority shareholder, it is likely that DRB-HICOM may assign one of its senior executives to take over the role, while Dr. Li Chunrong (from Geely) is CEO. This is generally the practice in the other companies that DRB-HICOM is involved in such as Mitsubishi Motors Malaysia and Honda Malaysia.
“Proton welcomes Ainol Azmil to the role of covering Deputy Chief Executive Officer. We are confident in his ability to take on this temporary appointment. At the same time, Proton would like to convey utmost gratitude to Roslan Abdullah for his contribution to the company and we wish him well in his future undertakings,” said Dr Li, who has been CEO since 2017 when Geely became a major shareholder in Proton.
About Roslan Abdullah
Encik Roslan’s next stop has not been revealed and perhaps DRB-HICOM will assign him to another subsidiary. A finance guy, he has been in the automotive industry for more than 30 years, working in various roles on the vendor side as well as having management positions in various subsidiaries of DRB-HICOM.
Prior to joining Proton, Encik Roslan was President & Chief Operating Officer at Honda Malaysia for 7 years. He had a hands-on role in which he was involved in leading the brand to being the top non-national passenger car brand in Malaysia. He was also very much involved in the Takata airbag recall, working hard to ensure that thousands of Honda owners replaced the defective airbag module.
He returned to DRB-HICOM to serve as General Manager as the COVID-19 pandemic began in June 2019. Subsequently, he became CEO of Proton Edar, the automaker’s marketing arm, and then also took on the role of Deputy CEO of Proton in January 2022 (which is why you see him sometimes being quoted as CEO of Proton Edar and sometimes as Deputy CEO of Proton).
During Encik Roslan’s time at Proton, he oversaw the beginning of its transition to New Energy Vehicles which started with the establishment of PRO-NET (Proton New Energy Technology) as a subsidiary focussed on New Energy Vehicles. While taking on the smart EV distributorship for Malaysia and Thailand, PRO-NET was also where the Proton e.MAS EV brand began. Led by Encik Roslan, the team essentially started its EV business from scratch with the e.MAS 7 being its first product. Encik Roslan would be able to look back with satisfaction on this part of his career as the e.MAS 7 became the bestselling EV in Malaysia right after it was launched.
Hopefully, Encik Roslan will remain in the auto industry as the motoring media has always appreciated his open nature. Right from his days at Honda Malaysia, he has been open, honest and frank and unlike some CEOs, he has accepted criticism (even those about Proton) rather than simply saying ‘that’s rubbish’. He is willing to discuss matters in a constructive way and has provided with insights into various issues, not just at the companies he had been with but also the auto industry in general.
Encik Roslan is obviously too young to retire so we hope he will remain in the auto industry as the motoring media has always appreciated his open nature.
