We’ve reported on this news since last year, but now it’s official – Proton is reentering the Chilean market 18 years after exporting its last car, the Proton Wira, to the South American country in 1998. The national carmaker has shipped 50 left-hand drive units of the Proton Preve to the port city of San Antonio today, the first batch of the 1,000 units it hopes to sell in Chile this year.
Aside from the Preve, Proton will also sell the Exora and Saga in the country. The Preve (in Standard MT, Executive MT and Premium CVT variants) and Exora (in Standard CVT and Premium CVT variants) are set to go on sale in May, followed by the Saga (in 1.6 Standard MT and 1.6 Premium MT) in November. The estimated price is US$17,000 (RM71,089) for the Preve Premium CVT.
As previously reported, the cars will be distributed by Andes Motor, which signed a distributor agreement with Proton on July 1 last year. Proton will be the first mass market car brand to be represented by Andes, which currently deals with buses, trucks and luxury cars.
Proton has planned its reentry to the market since a free trade agreement was signed between Malaysia and Chile on February 25, 2012, granting the company a six percent exemption in import duty. “This gave us the opportunity to identify a viable marketplace for the entry of a left-hand drive market for our cars,” said Proton CEO Datuk Abdul Harith Abdullah.
The brand last sold nearly 3,000 cars in the Chilean market – which has a total industry volume of 330,000 units out of a population of 17.6 million – from 1994 to 1998. “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.
“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,” said Abdul Harith.
Chile joins the small number of current export markets for Proton, including Australia, Indonesia, Thailand and Egypt. Chairman Tun Dr Mahathir Mohamad has also stated that the company is again looking at assemble its cars in Egypt, and that the export market is very important in terms of expanding its production volume and ensuring its long-term survival.
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keep it up Bravo Proton!
Cheaper price, better quality. Thank you fellow Malaysians Proton drivers for subsidizing Chilean, who eat pork, drink wine and speak Spanish.
Huh? Since when p1 collect tax?
American & Japanese already flooded their market… good luck
its Chile, not many people afford to buy conti & japs
Yes, better to send those unsold Proton to Chile
You smoking right? Chile is the third highest living standard in all of America, in other word, even better than us.
Wonder why ploton does not go to other Asean market??
Because the signal stick trapped at left side steering.
Oooo…proton car got signal stick ke?
No seat heater? I believe winter in Chile could be quite chilly so that features could be handy..
Proton’s reputation in Chile is exactly the same as how we view China’s car.
R u a chilean?
Then how do u know for sure?
Oh, the chili that came out from ur rear told u so.
Okay, u correct.
U winliaolor
If you don’t have the wisdom, then listen to others. Just like how you don’t believe my prophecy about Proton failure that turned out to be true. Preve, Suprima, Iriz … all struggling to sell.
I’m chilean and Proton cars have way better reputation than the chinese shit we got here.
Buena suerte Chile!
Nope.
Proton, you are the man!
I would seriously considering suprima s over iriz IF they put a proper keyless go entry into suprima s.
Wait, wait, wait, I will after they replace the GB in suprima. Iriz GB CVT is still better than suprima. But to make me buy the suprima, the GB should be better than the current one in Iriz. Maybe from Jatco?
Chilean might buy this proton vehicles to do the 3D jobs…..
Handbrake punya position tak tukar ka?
My congrats to all at Proton on their official return to Chile ! For once, it is very reassuring to see Proton ACTUALLY deliver on their words and promises. I hope this positive attitude is maintained at all levels in the company, including Proton Edar.
I also heard PT PEI (Proton Indonesia) is undergoing some sort of restructuring… understandably, it is not entirely the fault of PT PEI for low sales in 2015 as the Indonesian car market shrunk 16% last year. However, I cannot accept how PCA (Proton Australia) marketed the Prevé and Suprima S. The Prevé was overpriced at launch, only to receive huge price cuts a year or two later, by then, it was outdated. On a more positive note, Proton recently shipped a few hundred units of 2016 model year GEN-2 LHD units to Egypt. The market demand for the old GEN-2 is still surprisingly strong in Egypt, in fact, Egypt was most probably Proton’s best export market in 2015… and Proton Egypt (Ezz Elarab) only had two old models on offer, the GEN-2 and Persona. Fortunately, Proton is currently working on bringing the Prevé and Exora Turbo to Egypt, hopefully sooner than later.
Anyway, I wish Proton and Andes Motor all the best, and I’ll be keeping a close eye on Proton’s Chilean sales in the future. I do not expect much, I only expect Proton to learn from their past mistakes and be wary not repeat them over and over again in the future. Proton has a good reputation in Chile, they cannot afford to mess it up.