After ten years, Proton reenters South Africa and aims to grow export sales
Roslan Abdullah, deputy chief executive officer, said Proton is officially back in South Africa after leaving the market ten years ago.
Roslan Abdullah said that growth in export volume is essential to Proton's expansion plans. Export sales also remain an essential part of Proton's business plan.
Today in a joint statement, he said, "While the company continues to reclaim market share in Malaysia's automotive market, it needs to exploit the latent potential in international markets towards becoming a leading automotive brand in the region."
He also said that export sales as of August-end rose 33.9% over 2021 total number of sales.
"With South Africa's addition to the export markets list, Proton is hopeful of a bigger percentage in growth by year-end."
He added, "Proton is strongly pursuing export sales. We believe export sales are one of the backbones of growing the company's overall volume. Our aim this year is to accomplish 6,000 export sales."
The brand's relaunch, which also saw the Proton X50 and X70 making their debut in the country, was hosted by Combined Motor Holdings Ltd, which is Protons' official distributor in the country.
"Both models are presently available to Rainbow Nation customers as completely built-up models. By the beginning of 2023 or later in the year, it will be joined by the Proton Saga," Roslan said.
Meanwhile, Jebb McIntosh, CMH's chief executive officer, said the company grabbed the chance to bring back the Proton brand to South Africa.
"When the Proton brand became available, CMH jumped at the opportunity for several reasons, but mainly because we observed a gap in the market for a quality sports utility vehicle (SUV) within an affordable price bracket."
He said, “there are a lot of luxury brands selling SUVs in South Africa, but they are mostly unaffordable for the average car buyer.” He said the company has plans on having 25 dealers within six months. He added that the first 17 had undergone sales and technical training already.
Jebb McIntosh added that a full range of parts for replacement is already in stock in the CMH distribution centre. Therefore, customers can buy the vehicles with confidence.
