January 2021 sales by PROTON - 5,964 units. This marks a decrease of 29.9% over the same month last year. Basically the current round of Movement Control Orders here in Malaysia has stalled sales in the first month of this year. However, Proton says that new or upcoming model launch plans will go on unchanged as company chases after more favourable numbers this year.
Proton's market share is estimated at 18.5%, about 1.0% less compared to the same period last year (with a total industry volume of about 32,000 units for January 2021). According to Proton, the overall figures though are a reflection of supply not being able to meet demand rather than a reduction in bookings. So it could be said that supply of new cars is slowing down sales rather than the pandemic.
How true could this statement be?
Back to the Proton story, leading PROTON’s sales in January was the venerable Proton Saga. With 2,583 units delivered it was the second most popular A-segment sedan in the country. The Proton X70 and Proton X50 SUV twins continue to lead the C-segment SUV and B-segment SUV (five-seat) categories though registered units were down to 892 and 1,082 units respectively. For the newly launched X50, a total of 4,809 units have been delivered since the official launch on 27 October last year.
Other models posted similar performances. The Proton Persona finish second in the B-segment sedan category while the Proton Exora maintained its standing as the best-selling C-segment MPV in the country. The Proton Iriz ended January in third place for B-segment hatchbacks.
Personally, it is of my opinion that some legacy products from Proton needs to be hastily updated for them to garner more sales traction. Even the A segment Saga seems to be number two in terms of sales and the Iriz in number three are clear signs of this. But what of the supply issue then? Let's move on.
“January was a difficult month for Malaysia’s automotive industry. Hopes were high the momentum built at the end of 2020 would be carried forward especially after the announcement of PENJANA incentives remaining in place until the end of June this year. Unfortunately, the second MCO announcement put a damper on those hopes. Still, PROTON as well as the rest of the industry is in full support of all measures the government has in place to control the rate of infection. The safety of all Malaysians needs to remain as the main priority and companies need to pivot in order to achieve their goals in a changed market environment,” said Roslan Abdullah, Chief Executive Officer, Proton Edar.
Coronavirus takes effect on production volume according to PROTON
While PROTON’s order book remains healthy with orders carried over from the end of last year, the company is still working hard for supply to catch up to demand. As an industry that depends on a global supply chain, automotive companies are acutely affected by delays to vendors that have a knock-on effect to their production lines.
“Measures like the MCO have naturally affected the number of customers coming to showrooms, but we canreceive bookings online helping to boost our sales. However, our supply lines have been disrupted over the last few months by the coronavirus making it difficult to ensure a steady flow of parts needed to build our cars. It’s something all car manufacturers have been facing for the past year but we are hopeful that with the arrival of a vaccine things will stabilise by the middle of the year,” added Roslan Abdullah.
Despite the delays, PROTON intends to pursue its product launch plans for 2021 as the company strives for more sales growth both domestically and abroad.
“For now, PROTON will stick to its 2021 product launch schedule. We have an exciting series of improved products in the pipeline while the Proton X50 will now be able to establish its standing in the market by benefitting from a full year of sales. There will undoubtedly be more challenges ahead until the world is able to control the spread of the virus but we are aware this is now the new norm for doing business and the onus is on us to innovate our operations to better serve our customers,” he continued.
I have to say that the MCO could be a reason for the slowdown in local production of vehicles (this is all players and not just Proton). The latest round of MCO lockdowns had actually halted production in January and if you were one of those people who waited you may have to wait a little longer. The Malaysian Government had asked manufacturers to halt production in all sectors (except those supposedly necessary) and all automotive players had to stop. Then a few days later these players were allowed to continue.
This simple fact would allow ridiculous hiccups in the supply chain. Where the automotive assemblers like Proton, Perodua, Honda had to shut down their facilities as well as parts suppliers who had to do the same too. The lockdown has a domino effect on things and it would show on the monthly sales volumes.
Of course, you add the fear of people losing jobs to the picture due to the prolonged lockdowns, there is also some fear from the public too. Many factors are in play here but it does seem that we may see a sluggish February 2021 also from the looks of it.
PROTON January 2021 – Individual Model Performance
Model No of units sold Sales achievement for January 2021
Saga 2,583 2nd highest volume A-segment sedan
Persona 970 2nd highest volume B-segment sedan
Exora 153 Highest volume C-segment MPV
Iriz 283 3rd highest volume B-segment hatchback
X70 892 Highest volume C-segment SUV
X50 1,082 Highest volume B-segment (five-seat) SUV
Total *5,964
*sales of other models not listed added to the total sales figure
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