While the recent progress has been rather good, Proton is not exactly out of the woods yet, let’s hope they will continue this winning streak

Like many car companies this year, Proton posted very strong numbers cracking 141, 432 units in sales, the best since 2013.

In December alone, Proton sold 14,750 units, their fourth best monthly performance of the year. This resulted in a 23.3% increase in total sales compared to the previous year.

They even managed to rack up some growth in overseas sales which bumped 79.1% in 2022.

Proton wants us to know that this helped the company retain their title as the leading exporter in the industry.

On the home front, these healthy numbers meant the Shah Alam outfit retained their ranking of second in the automotive sales table, with an estimated market share of 19.6%.

The total industry volume for 2022 is estimated to have reached over 720,000 units, a new industry high.

No doubt, 19.6 per cent is impressive but it still pales in comparison with their past records and it is important to remember that Proton needs to reach for 200,000 units of sales per annum if it wants to get back on it’s feet as a genuine local manufacturer.

It’s not to say that at the moment, they are not manufacturers because models like the Saga, Persona, Iriz and Exora is designed and built by Proton and it is these core models that fans will want Proton to continue as they are the four affordable models for the average Malaysian buyers.

To do that, they need to achieve some solid numbers, with the local models hitting at least 100,000 units in sales so that it would make commercial sense for Proton to invest in a new platform.

As it stands, Proton is probably pleased that the X50 and X70 are doing so well, if not just for the healthier margins, it would be because these offerings have lifted the Proton badge beyond the RM100,000 mark, which used to be an insurmountable psychological barrier for the tiger.

Out of Proton’s six car models, five of them saw an increase in sales in 2022. The Proton X50 was the best-selling SUV in Malaysia, with 40,681 units sold, an increase of 41.4% from the previous year.

This made the X50 the second most popular model in the company’s lineup. The Proton X70, which is a popular SUV brand, also saw an increase in sales, with 18,533 units sold, a 13.1% increase from the previous year. This helped the X70 retain its position as the best-selling C-segment SUV for the fourth consecutive year.

When we look at the local models, they still showed growth, but from such a low base, that they are starting to look like a lost cause for future platform development.

In the past Proton has proven that they can design a new platform at a lower cost than many other big carmaker, but even so these numbers are telling.

The Exora, a C-segment MPV, was the slowest-selling model for Proton in 2022 but even it saw a 5.9% increase in sales, with a total of 4,275 units sold.

The Proton Saga, which is Proton’s best-selling model overall, had a 31.1% increase in sales, with a total of 55,878 units sold.

Despite some production issues, the Proton Persona saw a small 1.3% increase in sales, with 16,357 units sold. However, the Proton Iriz faced production supply issues and saw a 14.9% decrease in sales.

If you add up the sales total of the local models, it barely breached 80,000 units and deciding to come up with an all new platform, and there can only be one platform for all the locally developed models, would require some serious convicing of Geely bean counters.

They almost cracked the 12,000 unit-a-month benchmark, which puts them on a steady financial footing and they can continue to reissue the cover versions of popular Geely numbers, but that’s not really what we want is it?

While I congratulate Proton for their success in 2022, I would like to see their local models gain more traction.

Some difficult decisions will have to be made, some models will disappear but if that is necessary so that they can continue to have at least one or two local models, then so be it.

Proton is an economic enabler in Malaysia, it is not just a car company, it gave the country the capability to design our own car from the ground up and that is a strong source of national pride.

If Proton can regain their strength, then we will have to automotive companies that can design and build a car from a blank piece of paper.

It is a touch challenge but the current local team led by Roslan Abdullah has made some inroads with their Chinese counterparts and is steadily proving to be a reliable partner and capable of taking care of it’s own.

However much national pride we want to feel, nothing talks like money so here is to a better 2023 for Proton and and future locally developed models.