Proton Ships First 50 Units Of Preve To Chile; Exora And Saga To Follow
National carmaker Proton Holdings Berhad last exported the Proton Wira to Chile in 1998 and today, it is sending off 50 units of left-hand-drive Proton Preve sedans to San Antonio, Chile, as part of a total 1,000 cars Proton expects to sell in Chile this year.
Besides the Preve, left-hand drive versions of the Exora MPV and Saga sedan will also make their way to the South American country later this year. From the looks of the portfolio, it looks like Chile is more a sedan and people mover market than hatchback. The Preve Premium is expected to be sold at the US$ 17,000 range.
The Preve (Standard MT, Executive MT & Premium CVT) and Exora (Standard & Premium CVT) are expected to go on sale in Chile in May 2016 while the Saga (Standard & Premium MT) in November. The models will be sold in the cities of Santiago, Concepcion, Vina del Mar, La Serena, Antofagasta, Valdivia, Temuco and Osorno.
The new batch of Proton cars will be sold by Andes Motor, a subsidiary of the Kaufmann Group, and established distributor of buses, trucks and luxury cars. “Our plan to export to Chile started back when the Malaysia-Chile Free Trade Agreement was signed on 25 February 2012. Proton enjoys a 6% exemption of import duty and we are thankful to the Malaysian government for this trade initiative. This gave us the opportunity to identify a viable marketplace for the entry of a left-hand drive market for our cars,” said Dato’ Abdul Harith Abdullah, CEO of Proton.
“We are excited to re-enter the Chilean market after we sold almost 3,000 units of cars back then, from 1994 to 1998. Now, we have a new partner, who is a leading distributor of buses, trucks and luxury cars with a vast network to provide proven sales and aftersales services. Proton will be the first and only passenger car brands to be marketed for the mass market, with Chile’s population of 17.6 million and a total industry volume of around 330,000 passenger cars. This huge market potential is a golden opportunity for Proton in our efforts to increase our production volume and expand our sales and market presence,” he added.
“As this year is an interesting year for Proton, we are positive that this is the beginning of many more opportunities to go global, especially after we complete our current new engine programme for us to meet the more stringent regulations of European countries. We shall continue to build good cars and carry out product improvements so that we not only do better in our home turf but improve our global presence as well,” he continued.
Aside from this, Proton is working on left-hand drive versions of their other models; the left-hand drive market makes up about 70% of the globe, and identifying other export markets to penetrate. One such market is Bangladesh where CKD operations are slated to start June this year. Proton’s current export markets now consist of Thailand, Indonesia, Australia and Egypt. The company is projecting an increase in export sales to 7,000 units this year compared to 5,000 in 2015. The move to increase its export sales should help Proton improve its economies of scale and keep the business sustainable.
