Proton and Geely 10-year plan on track, still targets to be No.1 in Malaysia, top three player in ASEAN by 2027
Proton says the first five years of its partnership with Geely has seen plenty of positive movement, among them being a return to profitability, something it said was paramount at the beginning of the association, and a continued increase in sales annually.
These were among the accomplishments highlighted by Proton deputy CEO Roslan Abdullah in his speech during the CNY media dinner event yesterday, when he spoke about the progress made by the company since 2018.
“The last five years have seen us launch two all-new models (the X70 and X50 SUVs), updated our home-grown offerings, build a new engine assembly plant and bring more local assembly activities to Tanjung Malim,” he said. He added that the 3S/4S network has also seen a doubling in numbers, increasing from 73 outlets and two flagship stores in 2018 to 152 outlets and four flagship stores.
Roslan said that the automaker’s 10-year plan remains well on track and that it is aiming to attain all the targets it has set in the second half. One of these is to complete its as-yet-unrealised ambition of becoming the number one automaker in Malaysia.
“Over the next five years, our ultimate targets have not changed. We still aim to be the leader in Malaysia and number three in ASEAN,” he said. Given that competitor Perodua attained a record high of 282,019 deliveries last year and has announced a sales target of 314,000 units this year, Proton – which
delivered 141,432 units (of which 136,026 were domestic sales) in 2022 – has quite a way to catch up in the next half decade, but Roslan seems confident that it can be done.
“I know many will question how realistic this is, but allow me to explain how we’ll do it. Most of the sales volume in Malaysia is concentrated in a few segments, and so Proton will continue to have offerings in sizeable and affordable segments using homegrown products upgraded with new powertrains,” he said.
“At the same time, we will support the strategy to turn the country in to an NxGV hub as spelled out in NAP 2020, so we will also launch new models with advanced technologies. Tied-in to this strategy is our move to penetrate and leverage on the growing demand for EV, PHEV and HEV vehicles, also known as new energy vehicles, so you can expect more models in the future deploying several different solutions.” he added.
The promised slew of new introductions will be supported by the increased ability to deliver powertrains crucial to the production chain through its new Tanjung Malim engine plant, which has seen RM1.8 billion being invested into it to incorporate new technologies, among other things.
“The plant produces engines for models beyond the Proton X70, and going forward, there will be more variations of engines produced there that we will use in more models,” Roslan said, adding that the company would continue to leverage on the strategies of Geely’s technology roadmap and DRB-Hicom’s investment into AHTV to push for home grown development programmes.
