KUALA LUMPUR – Proton Holdings Bhd delivered 11,873 cars last month – both domestic and export – to hit a seven-year market high, equivalent to 27.1% of the automotive market share, its best showing since September 2013.
In a statement today, the national carmaker said it finished the month ranked second in Malaysia, with sales nearly doubling the January total of 5,964 units.
“Compared with the same month in 2020, volume grew by 19.9%, though overall, the total for the first two months of the year is still 643 units, or 3.5% behind last year’s cumulative total.”
The company said its second SUV, the X50, launched on October 27 last year, achieved a new monthly high with 3,345 units delivered in February.
It said 1,475 units of the X70 were delivered last month – the highest for a C-segment SUV – and that it sold a combined total of 4,820 SUVs, the firm’s best-ever performance and the most for any brand in the country.
“The model with the highest sales, however, is still the Proton Saga. With 4,217 units delivered, the A-segment sedan remains a popular choice among buyers who value its combination of practicality, attractive design and value-for-money proposition.
“The sedan also spread its wings by being the first Proton model to go on sale in Kenya on February 25, where it is locally assembled by Proton’s partner, Simba Corporation.
“Other Proton models also performed well. The Persona regained its leadership in the B-segment sedan category by finishing the month with 1,818 units delivered, beating its highly acclaimed newer rivals in the process.”
The Exora remains at the head of the C-segment MPV market, while the Iriz grabbed third place for B-segment hatchbacks, it said.
Proton Edar chief executive Roslan Abdullah said February was a difficult month for Malaysia’s automotive industry, but turned out very well for Proton, as it was able to produce more vehicles, and in doing so, started to clear its backlog of orders during the movement control order.
“This is important as we need to consistently deliver on the bookings made to avoid a rush before the Penjana incentives expire at the end of June.
“The automotive sector continues to be vibrant, with exciting new model launches sure to spark consumer interest and create healthy competition between Proton and other brands, but we will continue to be cautious even as we push forward to avoid (Covid-19) infection rates flaring up again and disrupting operations.”
Proton added that last month also saw the launch of four special-edition models – the Persona and Exora Black Edition, as well as the Saga and Iriz R3 Limited Edition, were unveiled online on February 18, and received a total of 1,169 bookings from a total production run of just 3,500 units as of February 26. – Bernama, March 2, 2021
