Proton Cars are really getting their ship back in shape. This time around, they have started sending cars to Egypt again after an absence. Proton held a flag-off ceremony for this first batch of cars at its plant in Tanjung Malim earlier today. The small ceremony basically marks Proton's first shipment to Egypt in almost three years.
According to Proton, a total of 225 Proton cars will set sail on 22 September 2018 from Northport, Klang, and are set to arrive at Alexandria port in Cairo on 6 October. The shipment, which consists of the Proton Preva, Proton Saga BLM and the Proton Exora will be distributed in Egypt by Alpha Ezz El-Arab. Alpha Ezz El-Arab will then distribute the cars to its seven branches and dealerships that serve the Egyptian market.
Under the new management, Proton are indeed pushing hard into rebuilding their brand presence locally aas well as overseas. In terms of exports, 2018 marked the first time in a while that Proton sent some cars overseas.
In terms of Egypt, the last shipment to the country comprised of 320 units of the Proton Gen 2 and Persona, was sent in December 2015. This was before the devaluation of the local currency and political turmoil which made it impossible to price new cars (and even spare parts) competitively. However, the Egyptian distributor carried on valiantly with the continued imports of parts from Proton. This ensured the needs of owners were met while waiting for a turnaround in the economic climate.
As the overall economic and policical climate of Egypt has since settled, Proton has been able to re-establish export activities and will attempt to take advantage of an Egyptian automotive market which is projected to experience significant growth in Total Industry Volume (TIV) over the next few years. There will be a total of three Proton models which will make their market debut there and Proton as well as the distributor targets 1,000 cars to be sold in 2018. This is quite ambitious as 2018 will end in about three and a half months or so. Anyhow, the distributor has already announced that they are ordering another 280 units to be shipped by October, so if this continues, that target should be easily achieved.
"PROTON is excited at being able to export its cars to a market where they have proven to be popular in the past. Buyers there value the safety, reliability and strong resale price of Proton cars, qualities evident in the three models set to be launched in Cairo in October. To ensure sufficient stocks, the distributor has ordered an additional 280 units to be shipped next month with a target of 1,000 cars for the whole of 2018,” said Dato’ Radzaif Mohamed, Deputy Chief Executive Officer of PROTON.
Aside from resuming new car sales in Egypt, the authorised distributors of Proton in Egypt, Alpha Ezz El-Arab, will also be introducing PROTON’s new Corporate Identity (CI) in 3 of their outlets. They will be the first to carry PROTON’s latest showroom CI outside of Malaysia.
“The move to adopt our new CI shows our distributor is in step with our aim of building a consistent brand experience and image for PROTON internationally. It will also help in our aim to add to the more than 13,000 Proton cars that have been sold in Egypt since 2004,” added Dato Radzaif.
Focusing on export initiatives
Exports are one of the key areas identified to fuel business growth for Proton. The car manufacturer, now under Geely management will want to to grow export sales and this includes studies on exploring possible locally assembly (CKD) operations in other countries for tax break incentives. This will help in markets where Proton has to compete against brands with established CKD operations and opens up the possibility of establishing regional hubs in other continents.
“As PROTON seeks to drive its export initiatives forward, establishing regional CKD activities will be vital to increasing our brand visibility and growing sales volume. It will also improve our cost effectiveness and help to speed up entry into new markets. At this point however, the PROTON Tanjung Malim plant as well as Perusahaan Otomobil Nasional Shah Alam Plant remain essential as they will build the cars required to serve our export markets in a timely manner,” said Dato’ Radzaif.
Big plans indeed. It does seem that Proton has now entered into another new phase in its story to date.
L to R: Encik Abdul Rashid Musa, CEO of PROTON Edar, Dato’ Azman Shah Mohd Yusof, CEO of Northport (Malaysia) Bhd, Dato’ Radzaif Mohamed, DCEO of PROTON, Mr Satoshi Yamaguchi, Managing Director of Mitsui OSK Lines (Asia Oceania), Mr Yoshiya Inamori, Vice President Of Manufacturing PROTON, Steven Xu Yuan, Director of International Sales PROTON.
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