More Elegance For The Persona
Subang Jaya, 18 March 2010 – Proton today unveiled a more elegant, enhanced version of the Proton Persona which will replace the current Persona. The new cars are immediately available for booking and viewing at all authorized Proton dealerships throughout the country.
The Persona remains a 1.6 litre sedan, and is available in Base, Medium and High Line variants. For the Base and Medium Line variants, customers can opt to have it with a 5-speed manual or a 4-speed automatic, whilst the high Line is only available with an automatic transmission.
New with the new line, called the Proton Elegance, is a set of re-designed headlights, rear LED combination lights, a new front grille fascia, all new upholstery, meter combination fascia, door mirrors with built-in turn indicators, twin front airbags and also a full body kit for the Medium and high Line variants. Leather seats are exclusive to the High Line variant.
Prices are slightly higher, but the value-add to the product under this exercise more than makes up for the price differential. The Base Line variant with manual transmission is priced at RM46,499 on-the-road; the Medium Line starts at RM52, 999 for the manual while the High Line is priced at RM59, 499 (OTR). The price difference between a manual and automatic model in each variant, where applicable, is RM3, 000. With the introduction of the Persona Elegance, the Persona SE variant will no longer be offered for sale. Instead, customers can opt for the High Line model which has most of the Persona SE features such as all-round body kit, leather seats, auto-cruise and an in-car navigation system.
The Persona is the second best selling model after the 1.3 litre Proton Saga, and maintains a monthly average sales volume of 3,500 units. Since its launch in August 2007, a total of 102,914 units have been registered, with another 6,898 bookings received at February 2010. The Persona currently accounts for 35 percent of the local market share in its class.
Proton Holding Group Managing Director Dato’ Haji Syed Zainal Abidin Syed Mohamed Tahir said, “The introduction of the Persona elegance is expected to increase monthly sales of the Proton to at least 4,000 units a month and to contribute to 48,000 cars being sold over the next 12-month period, representing an 11 percent increase over the last 12 months’ performance. This will boost Proton’s overall car sales by 8 percent in the 2010/2011 financial year compared to the previous corresponding period.”
