PROTON Continues Its Sales Momentum In August
In line with the total car sales in Malaysia, PROTON has posted encouraging numbers, signalling a continued momentum for the brand. In August, the Total Industry Volume (TIV) exceeded the 50,000 unit barrier for the second month in a row. This is despite the month having a number of public holidays and long weekends which shortened the number of business days. The sales performance is likely due to a combination of delayed delivery of orders placed before the Movement Control Order, pent-up consumer spending as well as the sales tax exemption of new cars to spur the industry.
In August, PROTON posted its second best month of 2020, by selling 11,378 vehicles. This may be a reduction of 14% from July 2020, but is still an improvement of 24.7% compared to August 2019. Its market share for the month is forecast at 21.6%, while year-to-date share is estimated at 21.7%.
Three PROTON models ended August as sales leaders in their respective segments while cumulatively, overall sales is slightly ahead of 2019, by 46 units, at 61,672 units. The three models maintaining their lead are the Proton Persona, Exora and X70.
The Persona leads the B-segment sedan class with 2,411 cars in August, and has the third highest sales result in 2020. The Exora continues unchallenged as the best-selling C-segment MPV in the market, with 630 units sold in August. Meanwhile, the X70 remains as the best-selling SUV in Malaysia, selling 2,791 units.
“PROTON is pleasantly surprised by how quickly we have been able to recover the lost sales during the MCO period, as it only took us three months to get back on track. By exceeding our YTD volume in August 2019 we are quietly confident of recovery from the headwinds of COVID-19. The positive effect this has on the company, our employees and the vendor community cannot be understated and we hope to continue this trend until the end of the year so as to give the automotive industry ecosystem a strong boost,” said Roslan Abdullah, Chief Executive Officer, Proton Edar.
