Proton Holdings Bhd has sold 14,898 cars in March of this year, recording its best sales month since September 2013.
Proton stated the March figure, comprising domestic and export sales, was a 26.2 percent month-on-month increase from February, translating to a market share of 23.5 percent.
Proton Edar Chief Executive Officer (CEO), Roslan Abdullah said after a soft start to the year, Malaysia’s automotive industry has finally hit its stride for 2021.
“We estimate total industry volume to be over 63,000 units, suggesting all brands to post their best numbers for the year.
“For Proton, March was a very good sales month as we achieved our highest figure in 90 months, but our sense of achievement is tempered by the fact that it could have been even better if we were able to produce more units,” Roslan said in his statement.
Roslan further stated as the company still has a large order bank to fulfil over the next few months, Proton will aim to increase production while maintaining their focus on delivering high-quality products.
“We are also mindful that PENJANA incentives are currently due to expire by the end of June, so we aim to ensure as many customers as possible are able to enjoy the tax holiday given by the Government,” Roslan said.
Meanwhile, the national carmaker said that for the first quarter of the year, the company achieved a cumulative sales total of 32,826 units and its highest quarterly market share figure since March 2012.
Proton said deliveries for its two SUV models continued to grow in March as the company’s new production line at Tanjung Malim increased its output for the month. 3,513 units of the Proton X50 were delivered to customers while the Proton X70 saw a month on month increase of 58.4 percent to 2,337 units.
The company said that when combined, it was another internal record with 5,850 SUVs delivered, beating the previous record of 4,820 units that was set just last month.
“The company’s top seller remains the Proton Saga and with 5,589 units delivered, sales for the A-segment sedan grew by 32.5 percent compared to February followed by Proton Persona, Iriz and Exora as the best figures for the year with the evergreen MPV once again claiming the crown for highest C-segment MPV sales,” said Proton in the statement.
Overall, Proton said it retained second position in the sales rankings table.
Adding to it, Proton said its in-house auto-financing subsidiary and Proton Commerce Sdn Bhd, has seen in a similar increase in volume for financing of cars.
Proton added that nearly 4,000 loans were disbursed in the first three months of 2021 with an estimated 1,700 going out in March alone.
“The latter figure is equivalent to a 122% growth over February and overall, disbursements for the first quarter of the year are up by 141% over 2020,” Proton said.
Recently, Perodua achieved their highest car sales in March with 24,433 units sold, a 47.3 percent increase compared to February which was 16,583 units.
