PROTON SELLS 15,017 CARS IN APRIL

Saga tops national sales chart while X50 sets another new high for deliveries

PROTON Holdings Bhd has reached its third consecutive month of growth in April with sales of 15,017 units, up 0.18 per cent from March.

It retained the second position in the sales ranking with a market share of 24.4 per cent, while overall volume stood at 47,843 units after the first four months of the year.

Proton Edar Sdn Bhd chief executive officer Roslan Abdullah said April was a good month for the automotive industry, and aside from Proton, other car brands also had their best month of the year so far.

Roslan said the total industry volume was forecast to be over 56,000 units as all marques were trying to fulfil their sales orders before the expiry of the Shortterm Economic Recovery Plan’s sales tax incentives at the end of next month.

“For Proton, we are continuing with efforts to meet the strong demand for our products while maintaining a high level of product quality. We are improving our customer service and addressing issues related to spare parts availability, which is vital as our sales volume increases.

“We expect the situation will see significant improvement as the year progresses, but we are working hard to move up that timeline,” he said.

The carmaker said the Saga had returned to the top of the national sales chart with 5,472 units sold last month.

Although the number was slightly lower compared with the previous month, demand remained healthy and was ahead of the number of units supplied.

Proton said its sport utility vehicle (SUV) models continued to set strong sales numbers.

“The X50 set yet another new high for deliveries with 3,583 units delivered last month while the X70 extended its dominance in the C-segment SUV category with 2,101 units delivered.

“The combined figure of 5,684 units is the second-best SUV sales month for the company and only slightly behind the record set in March,” it said.

Proton’s remaining three models performed well, and all three had their best months of 2021.

Despite strong competition, 2,266 units of the Persona were sold, enough to earn a second spot in the B-segment.

The Exora continued to rule the C-segment multi-purpose vehicle class while the Iriz’s sales received a boost from strong demand for the R3 Limited Edition model that allowed it to have its best sales month since 2019.

Last month also saw Proton hold a ground-breaking ceremony for a new stamping plant at its Tanjung Malim factory.

Roslan said the RM200 million facility would be operational by the third quarter of next year and would allow the company to stamp out larger body panels.