Proton back in Mideast
National carmaker has resumed exports to the region
PETALING JAYA: Perusahaan Otomobil Nasional Sdn Bhd (Proton) has resumed exporting cars to the Middle East since formalising its partnership with China’s Zhejiang Geely Holding Group Co Ltd.
The first shipment, comprising 453 units of Persona and Gen2, is expected to arrive in Aqaba, Jordan, within two weeks.
These left-hand drive cars will then be distributed to Iraq and other neighbouring countries by vehicle importer Jawarhat Al-Bakhet.
According to Proton deputy CEO Datuk Radzaif Mohamed, there is still strong demand for Proton products in the Middle East despite the slowdown in the group’s exports over the past few years.
“This ceremony marks a starting point for Proton, as we resume and ramp up shipments to the Middle East in the coming months.
“It’s also the first export shipment since the partnership with Geely commenced and we expect our export market to have a positive outlook in the future.
“So, be prepared for more such announcements from as early as August this year,” Radzaif said.
Proton’s last major export to the Middle
East was to Egypt in 2015.
Radzaif said Proton would now prioritise the export of its products to Asean, as part of an initiative to expand and strengthen its international market after a period of inactivity since 2015. He noted the drive to grow the group’s export market is backed by improvements to its product quality.
“Besides ensuring Proton cars continue to dominate the local market, we are targeting the export sector to be a significant business focus in the future,” Radzaif told reporters.
“We are prioritising exports of vehicles to the Asean countries, as they are closer before entering other countries as we have the products they are looking for,” he added.
Proton CEO Li Chunrong said the group would leverage on Geely’s extensive overseas network operations to grow its export market.
“We are exploring all opportunities to grow export volumes for Proton. Geely is making a big effort to support us in this initiative and there is a lot of experience within the group. So, we hope to leverage on it to enable us to sell more cars outside of Malaysia,” Li said.
He expects demand for cars in the Middle East to grow as the region’s economy continues to develop.
However, Li said, the Asean market would remain the main priority for Proton’s export business. Meanwhile, in a report by Bernama, Proton International Marketing Sector Director Steven Xu Yuan said a total of 2,200 Proton cars are targeted for export to several countries this year.
He said with Proton cars having improved in terms of quality, measured by Volvo quality standards, international importers are becoming increasingly confident of the national car and the number of new overseas distributors is also rising.
“We hope this activity grows quite fast and hope the volume of export will reach 100,000 units (per year) within the next five years,” he said, adding that plans were afoot to open a Proton manufacturing facility abroad in line with the target.
“If you compare with any benchmark international original equipment manufacturer, for example Hyundai, they are producing three million cars per year for Korea but their international market produces 4.5 million cars with six strategic manufacturing countries based out of Korea.
“And Proton, for sure, will be looking in the same direction in the near future,” he said.