Proton chairman Tun Dr Mahathir Mohamad said that the national carmaker is aiming to introduce three new models next year in order to increase sales and prop up its financial performance, according to Bernama.
The former prime minister claims the cars will better their predecessors, the Saga, Persona and Perdana. “In the automotive industry, we are always borrowing technology. Major car companies are always exchanging technology. In this regard, we are only using Honda’s platform with the rest coming from our own efforts,” he said, referring to the new civilian-use Honda Accord-based Perdana, which will have an in-house design.
“The new models are equipped with the latest safety features and design. I really hope that all three models will enter the market in stages from January next year and will be well-received.”
Mahathir added that Proton’s sales performance is sluggish at the moment, even though the company was working very hard to produce quality cars such as the Iriz. “I find the Iriz to be very good because it is very light and easy to drive compared with foreign cars of the same quality, but consumers’ response has not been encouraging,” he said. “However, of late the response to our Preve model has been better.”
Meanwhile, the decline in sales is also said to have affected the company’s cash flow, delaying salary increments for executive staff. “We have to make sacrifices to remedy the situation. Bonuses, although not much, will still be given, but with better sales they could probably be higher,” Mahathir said.
The mention of a new Persona is intriguing to say the least, as the Preve was previously touted as a replacement. Still, seeing as the current car is a B-segment sedan (the Preve belongs to the C-segment), it stands to reason that the Iriz-based “Saga” sedan might actually be the next Persona, slotting under the Preve. However, that would now leave the question of a new Saga wide open…
In addition to the three aforementioned models, Proton will also build its first car developed in collaboration with Suzuki – widely tipped to be a Perodua Axia-rivalling A-segment car – that could go on sale as early as August 2016.
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“ada aku kesah?” tapi datang menyemak jugak kat sini.. kalau tak kisah, tak payah baca, tak payah komen..
Dia kesah lettew….
It is solely because of Proton and Tun M that 30 million people in Malaysia suffer. Everybody’s biggest payment per month is their cars as we are paying overpriced cars. 30 years, Proton rogol all of us.
You see, in the 80s or even in the early 90s, you can get a brand new Nissan 130Y or a Toyota Corolla for RM20,000. Now, the same car is RM139,000.
In truth, the past 30 years, car prices have come down a lot globally and have NOT gone up due to inflation. It has come down due to economies of scale achieved by car companies. This is proven by the fact that you can get a brand new purely Japan made top spec 10 airbag Toyota Camry 2.5 in the US for US$22,000. That is about RM60,000. The normal B segment car like the Almera is sold in the US for US$9,999. (RM30,000). Mind you, this is after Toyota and Nissan of the US has made their margin and profits and the US government has collected taxes and duties from Nissan and Toyota. The direct from factory prices is far cheaper. UMW will get the above 2.5 Camry for US$15,000 from their principal in Japan. As our Camry is CKD, the price is even lower than that.
Our cars compared to global cars are completely stripped down. Even basic car in the US got about 20 safety features that the same car in Malaysia does not have. Purposely taken out to cut cost even further and untung more profit.
So, in actual fact, most Malaysians can enjoy cheap and reasonable cars but because of Proton, all the other car prices have been raised up tremendously to protect Proton. Malaysians have already suffered so much. For 30 years, 30 million people suffer so much. We struggle paying for our high car prices all because of one man’s dream of benefiting his friends and relatives and forcing the dying Proton to live with billions of our LHDN money, money which could be used to build more schools and hospitals.
If we did not have Proton sucking money from LHDN, each state can have an addition 10 fully fledged government hospitals and 10 fully fledged government schools every 10 years being built. But all our LHDN money go to the failing Proton. Every year government gives hundreds of million to Proton as form of grants. Every other year, Proton ask RM billions in help. Recently, even under private hands also (DRB) Proton asked the government to give them free few RM billions from LHDN.
Proton also cost us hundreds of billions in ringgit in investments from car companies who moved to Thailand and Indonesia. Car companies got fed up with Malaysia’s MITI for protecting Proton and telling other companies what to price their cars. They got sick and tired of the AP system and how genuine brands cannot get enough APs to import their cars in (like Mercedes, BMW and Honda).
They thought that if they set up their brands and plants in Malaysia, they knew they had to give 30% of their hard earned company free away as well as being told by MITI what to price their cars. They all moved their operations to Thailand making it the AutoCity of the world.
Recently GM announced that they rolled out already 1 million cars from Thailand. Imagine if GM was in Malaysia and we taxed GM RM10,000 per car. Calculate that with 1 million cars. Just from GM alone, we lost Billions in USD. Imagine what will the amount be from other car companies if they had set up in Malaysia?
Because of Proton, we lost hundreds of billion of ringgit in investment and trillions of ringgit from jobs lost. If Malaysia was the autocity of Asia, hundreds of thousands of jobs would have been created for Malaysians. We lost all that. Trillions of Ringgit and hundreds of thousands of jobs. Now, Thailand is benefiting from this trillions lost.
Car companies are flocking to invest hundreds of billions in Thailand despite Thailand being an unstable government, unstable economy and full of bomb blastings and terror.
Yet, global car companies still prefer Thailand. This is another rape like when Mitsubishi raped us for 20 years with low quality engines and parts. If Proton was not in Malaysia in the first place, you will have a few hundred thousand ringgit extra in your pocket!
Stupid comments
yeah right. please study about economy first la… or stay in the 80s
The information are very good.
Let me just thank you for all these and aslo if all the world following the US trade than just look into thier economy.
Making things cheap that doesnt mean beneficiaring the people…
There are alot of factor to see and weigh…
Not siding any .. But looking in the internal economy thats where the talent grows among the people.
Anyway wish all the best
my advise to CDP..buy a bicycle…
Bla bla bla. Now would you kindly leave and go to those political pages? You can have your politics 24/7 there. Political addict. They do politics everywhere, all the time. Even in toilet!
Betul.
Proton still the best and top sales in Malaysia !!!
P2 supporters eat this and go back to Penang. Supporters of proton come thumb up my comment!
Proton the king of road !
Malaysians kena tipu big time. Every single model in the Proton line is sold for half the price in Saudi countries.
We Malaysians are subsidising rich Arabs. When we pay RM60,000 for a Waja for example, the super rich Arab pays RM30,000 for the same car but with higher spec, more airbags and more safety features.
Why is a Malaysian Made car, Made for the people of Malaysia, being sold so high in Malaysia?
The whole purpose Mahathir gave birth to Proton in 1985 was to give an affordable car to fellow Malaysians. Proton cannot hide by the fact that taxes are high.
The spirit Proton was created was to help Malaysians. That is the whole reason of its inception. But it is not helping Malaysians. Because of Proton, all other car brands have artificially been going higher for the past 30 years. They have been strictly told to do so.
And parallel, the Proton car price also have been going higher as well to follow suit the other brands who have been strictly directed to sell at a high price.
So, what is the purpose of Proton’s inception in 1985? It is not helping the rakyat at all because, as we know, globally, car prices are so low and cheap.
It is high time we question, whether Proton needs to close down or not. Proton defeats its purpose of birth. In 1985, Mahathir promised everyone that the car would be cheap and affordable to everyone.
Well, the car is cheap in Saudi, at 50% the price. Why can’t we benefit from this price?
It’s tax tax tax
What it has got to do with Penang? Kindly advise.
Setuju Sangat.
Proton will never die as long as cronies control the industry.
AP cronies owners must be proud that minister keep the policy of protection to back them up !!!
Let makes Rakyat keep suffering to their greed and corruption!
You see Proton is actually a good concept. But when Mahathir created Proton, he made sure every single part of the Proton car is supplied by his crony buddies. Now Suzuki will be the same.
And these crony buddies overcharge Proton by ten times whilst giving poor and inferior parts. That is why your Proton always falls apart and everybody blames quality control. That is the reason also why Proton makes only RM500 per car that they sell. It is solely because of the crony vendors who are overcharging Proton. For example, per car Mat is sold to Proton for RM100 whilst you can buy the same car mat from brothers for RM10.
So, Mahathir can say all he wants about quality being raised and his sarcasm but until ALL Proton’s vendors are changed, how can the quality go up?
Mahathir won’t do this. All his buddies have got the contract to be vendors to Proton. Mahathir will just ensure that all the vendors for Proton remain the same. All his buddies and relatives, so why upset his relatives when he can continue his past misgivings?
Proton will still get the same low inferior quality parts it has been getting for the past 30 years and it will still be overcharged by 10 times for each part the vendors supply.
Malaysians have already suffered so much. For 30 years, 30 million people suffer so much. We struggle paying for our high car prices all because of one man’s dream of benefitting his buddies and friends. Until Proton changes ALL their vendors, Proton will be a loss making organisation because it produces super low quality cars due to its vendors supplying Proton Super low Quality parts.
This Suzuki scandal will be the same as Mitsubishi scandal. Until vendors change, tie up with Suzuki will be low in quality as previous Protons.
If Proton car is his passion, he should support Proton and tell his whole family to buy Proton. He himself drives most of the time his Porsche Cayenne. Only to events he will drive an Iriz to show people he is supportive of his Proton product. 99% of the time he uses Porsche Cayenne.
All his children use Porsche. Practically his whole family uses Porsche. Nobody even smells Proton. Even his maids and drivers own cars also NOT Proton.
Tun, if you support Proton, you should make sure everyone including your wife use Proton.
CEO of Proton got no balls. All announcements are made by either Mahathir or Cabinet officials despite it being fully 100% private in DRB hands.
Why pay the CEO RM100k per month then?
“Meanwhile, the decline in sales is also said to have affected the company’s cash flow, delaying salary increments for executive staff. “We have to make sacrifices to remedy the situation. Bonuses, although not much, will still be given, but with better sales they could probably be higher,” Mahathir said.”
Proton suffer low sales?
Macam itu lah rakyat juga suffer sengsara bayar cukai kereta tinggi, harga kereta mahal.
Sama-sama lah kita hidup susah. Fair and square!
what so new this time
Proton, please keep the Saga, Persona and Perdana name. Then we can have generations like Camry, Accord, Civic, etc.
Oh if the new Saga is based on Iriz, sounds like a good recipe since Iriz has pretty good handling and body control.
alalala la la la.. u gave a comment meaning u KISAH lah..
If you do not have the capacity to comment something constructive in an auto forum , please refrain from tapping the keyboard, it’s not flattering.
Rebadge new Alto 37km/L-rated? Hmm do want.
Car sales: (Jan-May 2014) vs. (Jan-May 2015)
Proton sales: (52,980 units) vs. (40,939 units)… – 22.7 % …. Proton targeting 130k cars for 2015 , behind half target…
Perodua sales: (77,666 units) vs. (92,027 units)… + 18.5 % …. Perodua targeting 203k cars for 2015 , hit half target…
So the 3 new cars are:
1) accord based new perdana
2) iriz based new persona
3) Suzuki based new saga/savvy
2) iriz based new persona
Most likely Iriz based Saga.
3) Suzuki based new saga/savvy
I think more like Suzuki Alto based A Segment car to compete with Perodua Axia.
I think it would be like this:
A segment:
Hatchback: Suzuki based Axia fighter
Sedan: if the car above becomes a sedan it would replace the current Saga (Saga III)
B segment:
Hatchback: Iriz
Sedan: Iriz based sedan which would replace the Persona
C segment
Hatchback: Suprima
Sedan: Preve
D Segment:
Honda Accord based Perdana
and then throw in the Exora MPV for good measure.
I think this line up is more rational as there would be clear demarcations between the models and less overlap.
So the question now becomes: What is this new model that is supposedly “better than the Saga”?
Will it be another face-lift?
When is tun going to realise? People are bearing ill will towards proton because of so many factors and not just because of the quality of cars from proton.
When Proton suffer low sales:
– Blame Perodua
– Blame local car buyers no support
– Blame govt MITI too liberal open market
– Blame Thailand the Asian Detroit
– Blame China for strict foreign car entry rules
– Blame Japan for strict foreign car entry rules
– Blame EU for strict foreign car entry rules
– Blame USA for strict foreign car entry rules
But never blame themselves.
I see more blind bashing on p1 rather than p1 blame others. Haters goona hate.
Even “IF” Proton meet the foreign car entry rules, the sales would be bad in foreign country because of unfamiliar brand and lack of “Protection”. People would rather get japanese’ brands near that price.
I dont see p1 blaming p2? I only see you blaming proton for everything. Even jerebu wanna blame proton. Dont create stories, this one is outdated. Just get out from your cave.
But when are the people going to realize, if Proton goes away taxes won’t go away. The taxes go to the government. If the excise duty were to go away, they’d be raising the GST to 20+%, raise income tax, … in the end people will be just as poor. But then everyone has to pay, not just those who want the luxury of having a new car. Right now, just buy a second hand car, you can get around taxes. If the high car taxes go away, that won’t be possible.
Also, if Proton goes away that just means you’ll have to buy a Perodua or an expensive car. There won’t be safe, affordable cars anymore.
Smart German always buy at least Skoda, not Proton.
because it’s VW underneath. but cheaper. hehehe
Proton needs to concentrate on saloons, NOT hatchbacks. For whatever reason, the Malaysian public seems to favour only hatchbacks from Perodus and saloons from Proton. Remember the Savvy? Even the Gen.2 after getting a ‘boot’ and called a Persona saw better sales. Preve also selling better than Suprima, but that may be due to price as well. I believe if they were to modify the Iriz to have a boot, sales will also pick up. Rebadging Suzuki cars will be a bad idea, unless they are doing the saloon cars of Suzuki, which sadly, does not seem to be the case.
I agree with u..proton suppose not to be so desperate trying to take over perodua’s market..from last savvy until iriz i think proton should now realize there is no point to compete making small cars as iriz sales also not so good..it is enuf to mntain iriz as a choice for proton compact car and few years later try to improve n improve..no need to produce too many models until proton suffer to get the return just like suprima s..preve is enough what? Better focus on making sedan n improve quality so that people wont go for honda n toyota sedan anymore..usually people who have family with moderate n high income will go for sedan..most of perodua market are from fresh grad n also young women who still learnig to drive..the rest will go for sedan..so why proton still want to chase for perodua’s small market??iriz is not enough?still greed want to take over A segment axia’s market? Come on la proton..selling 40-70k sedan cars with high quality for sure can attract people interest into proton..what important is focus selling few models..no need to be greed to take over everything until now proton suffer to get the return from too much investment made from too many models developed but quality not so satisfied..until now proton still making cars with minor quality issue which people not really like and try to avoid proton..why not follow perodua style..they only have few model but they focusss and refine their quality to ensure satisfaction from customers..
Shut up and take my money now!
Said no one ever.
You wanna pay Rm120K for a Proton?
Either you are crazy or losing your mind.
I dun care, CFE got 205Nm. Civic 2.l0 not even reaches 200Nm!
It more than car. Please also look at contact point – seller and workshop/after sales service.
Permudahkan proses dan beri pengalaman terbaik. Sekarang masa terbaik untuk memperkasa proses sebab perniagaan perlahan. Kena elak sikap ambil kesempatan terutama bila “boom”, jika ditakdirkan.
Sebenarnya tidak ada magic disini tetapi masalahnya terlalu banyak buaya besar kecil. Siapa yang pernah berurusan dengan PROTON mudah faham.
Banyak pusingan U!
Proton latest cars don’t use contact point anymore :-)
Nowadays, you can see quite a number of Prevés in the Klang Valley. The Suprima is still quite rare though, but I feel that Subang Jaya has bought the most number of them. The Iriz is getting more and more popular too, sales hit the 1,500 mark for the first time in May. My cousin sister bought an Iriz 1.3 two months ago. Previously, she had a Viva, which had a head-on accident into a metal street-light pole. She escaped with a broken nose, but the Viva was a total loss. Safety was a big reason why she chose the Iriz over the Myvi or even Axia.
It might take a while for people to warm up to the new kid on the block, but in time, I’m sure the Iriz will catch on as all the cheap A/B-segment Malaysian-badged cars have.
Actually yea, Preve is getting very common in subang.
Instant way to get people to warm up to Iriz is plonk in Suzuki/Honda drivetrain, instant confidence boost. Easily smoother auto gearbox and better fc, win liao lor.
Hey tokmoh, I agree, nothing wrong with offering more engines and transmissions for the new Proton models. The only problem I can tell is that the licensing costs will be steep, and Proton may already have a binding contract with Punch for their CVTs. Would be interesting to see an Iriz with Suzuki’s awesome 1.2 Dualjet engine and a nice, standard 5 or 6-speed auto. The manual is very good already, no changes necessary.
So…will the new Saga be pushed down into the A-segment to avoid sales cannibalization? A Suzuki-based A-segment sedan/hatch combo, perhaps, while the Persona takes a firm position in the B-segment with the Iriz?
i think the persona will be B+ segment with equivalent price with iriz (RM40k to RM60k)..Saga will be B segment with price around RM30k to RM45k..n Axia competitor A segment with price comparable with axia (RM25k to RM35k) n with less variant.
Yeah man kzm, the most important thing is that Proton must maintain the nameplates. They must not stop the Saga and Persona names. Toyota has maintained the Corolla for decades and Honda has the Civic… Proton must keep the Saga going.
With this kind of product planning they are laying, no wonder their sales will keep shrinking. When the world want SUVs (1/5 sales worldwide, 1/3 sales USA), Proton can only see Perdana, Saga and Persona ahead!?!?!?
Who would buy a Proton SUV? If you can afford a SUV, you’ll be looking at more prestigious brands. No one will buy the Perdana either, so why even bother?
Also, if Proton wants to sell cars overseas, they better be affordable and decent. In the SUV segment, again, people go by brand. It just doesn’t make sense. The Iriz is the right car for overseas markets, but they have to start selling it!
Better buy Skoda. Smart Germans always get it.
Kadajawee – butthurt p1 basher, haha!
please don’t use PUNCH CVT for the new model.
Agree!
Saga= a+ segment (using current saga platform), persona b-segment (using iriz platform)
Iriz – External is B-segment. Internal is A-segment
Liar. It feel more spacious than “new” Myvi
New myvi your head ar. It’s smaller than axia.
Ok, “new” Myvi is smaller than Axia
LOL
Tun, sure Preve picking up sales. Just look at 1MDB office yesterday. 3 PDRM’s Preve in front of their office.
“”…we are only using Honda’s platform with the rest coming from our own efforts,” he said…”
Interestingly, DrM said that they’re only using the Honda platform. If you want to be technical about it, that implies that they’re only using the Honda Accord skeleton while the powertrain and driveline (engine & transmission) will be of Proton’s own sourcing. I’m not 100% sure if that’s what he meant but if it’s true it could mean that the Honda engine and 5-speed autobox that many expected the car to have would not materialize.
I think he meant only the perdana will be taking advantage of their resource sharing with honda,the others will be build n developed in house…no way in heavens the perdana will b using p1 own drivetrain…doesnt make economic sence
I jus hope all these new models will carry on the same naming scheme as the previous gen…atleast there will be a continuation …dont name them different names n it all gets lost
Well, perhaps you’re right, seeing as how the term ‘platform’ does include the choice and placement of the engine and transmission. But it does make some economic sense for Proton to use their own engine and transmission (economies of scale and less royalty payment to Honda, perhaps) but assembly plant used would be a totally different matter.
The era of many different names reflects a lack of unified direction in the company. Hope they have addressed the issue.
The recent news are intriguing developments, no less.
Close shop la both proton n perodua… Milo tin, bila2 milo tin… Contoh? Nasi lemak management, bila2 nasi lemak management!! Muahaha
Work harder, dun blame others for your failure life.
No matter how many new models Proton comes out with, their sales will continue to drop. The reason is that people are SICK an TIRED of their “BMW of Asia” and “Comeback Game” marketing bullshit.
Between 2012 to 2014, Proton TIV drop at a 2% average annual rate. Mind you that Proton introduced Preve, Suprima and Iriz in those years.
The result? SALES CONTINUE TO DROP, dropping from 21% TIV to 17% TIV.
You can only fool and cheat people for a certain number of time, don’t expect the consumer to be such a stupid fool to fall for the same bullshit over and over again. In this case, Proton always make loud, I mean very loud noise about their “AWESOME” product but in the end, stats and reality never lies. Serve them right, Syiok sendiri Jaguh Kampung.
I wish more and more naive people would buy new Proton. So that they will get a taste of what Proton “AWE”some quality and its misery ownership experience is all about. Once they experience it first hand, most of them will never buy a Proton again in their life. Sooner or later, Proton will run out of “naive first timer” to sell their cars. Then, we can see their TIV drop below 10% and hopefully, closing shop within the next 10 or 20 years.
Proton is nothing but an epitome of Malaysia’s manifestation of incompetency and rent-seeking business model to its upmost disgusted form. Proton is not about creating value for consumer, it’s about milking the poor Malaysians dry and deprive them a chance to own a decent car, while big fat cronies laughing to the bank.
While we cannot shut down protected crony-owned business such as Indahwater, MAS, Telekom, Highway concessionaires, IPP and etc, we can certainly exercise the power of consumer to force Proton into bankruptcy. This is noble thing to do, and to teach those rent-seeking, incompetent, corrupted bastards about what the true value of doing business is all about.
Dun blame others for your failure in life.
Proton is failure. Haters gonna hate
What failure? P2 no homegrown car is not failure?
Another political lunatic detected.
3 models in the same year…wouldnt it dilute their sales?
let them incur even more cost and bigger loss.
all i can is.. all the best to Proton.
I still do believe Proton sales will boom with launching of new Saga and Perdana next year..
it’s time to buy DRB shares from now..
Stupid fool..do u think the Pakatan Rakyat will make the car cheaper n oil prices cheap!! Their own kain dalam also kelam kabut even after controlling the state also and their promise is all dustbin shit..
Anybody who become the leader will songlap the money n the promise to rakyat all bullshit..which party also is the worst, especailly the opposition.Not yet in power but still fighting each other.The rakyat who suffer a lot.Boring la.
Same old stories from both sides. Perhaps the basher may come from new generation already.
And you from what side? Loser?
Sniff Petrol really made my day with this. :)))
http://sniffpetrol.com/2015/04/30/lotus-to-produce-turd/#.VZ5Twl-qqko
Who cares??even jobless oso i wont buy potong
I agree with u..proton suppose not to be so desperate trying to take over perodua’s market..from last savvy until iriz i think proton should now realize there is no point to compete making small cars as iriz sales also not so good..it is enuf to mntain iriz as a choice for proton compact car and few years later try to improve n improve..no need to produce too many models until proton suffer to get the return just like suprima s..preve is enough what? Better focus on making sedan n improve quality so that people wont go for honda n toyota sedan anymore..usually people who have family with moderate n high income will go for sedan..most of perodua market are from fresh grad n also young women who still learnig to drive..the rest will go for sedan..so why proton still want to chase for perodua’s small market??iriz is not enough?still greed want to take over A segment axia’s market? Come on la proton..selling 40-70k sedan cars with high quality for sure can attract people interest into proton..what important is focus selling few models..no need to be greed to take over everything until now proton suffer to get the return from too much investment made from too many models developed but quality not so satisfied..until now proton still making cars with minor quality issue which people not really like and try to avoid proton..why not follow perodua style..they only have few model but they focusss and refine their quality to ensure satisfaction from customers..
lai2….
http://patents.justia.com/patent/20150192088
Interesting to.know but honda will also launch 2016 new accord….mmm which one u will buy 2016 honda or 2016 perdana ??? Look at utube…2016 honda accord…pure honda…