On 24 May 2017, parent company DRB-HICOM announced plans to sell a 49.9% stake in Proton to Zhejiang Geely Automobile Holdings. Eventually, DRB-HICOM also sold 51% controlling-stake in Lotus to Geely, and the remaining 49% stake to Etika Automotive. The definitive agreement was in July 2017. Proton had owned Lotus since 1996, and largely struggled to turn the fortunes of the sports car maker around. Nonetheless, in late 2016, Lotus announced their first operating profit in over 40 years. Their presence in Proton is said to not affect Japanese auto manufacturers due to being in the market for a very long time. Still, many of Proton's cars benefitted from the Lotus relationship, with the Satria GTi specifically mentioned by car reviewers as possessing good handling traits. Subsequent Proton models all received "Lotus Tuned" input.