We already know that Proton is making a comeback in Chile with the Preve. Now, the C-segment sedan has been officially launched in the South American country by Andes Motor, a subsidiary of the Kaufmann Group.
Three variants of the left-hand drive Preve will be available in Chile – Standard, Executive and Premium. The Std and Exec are powered by a 1.6 litre Campro IAFM+ engine with 107 hp and 150 Nm, paired to a five-speed manual gearbox. The Premium gets the Campro CFE turbocharged motor with 138 hp and 205 Nm, mated to a CVT transmission with seven virtual ratios. The “Lotus DNA” in the Preve’s driving dynamics is obvious, Andes and Proton claim.
“With Andes Motor, Chile’s leading distributor of buses, trucks and luxury cars, coupled with its vast dealer network providing sales and after sales services as our partner, we are optimistic that our re-entry into the Chilean market will be successful,” said Datuk Ahmad Fuaad Kenali, the new CEO of Proton.
“We are excited to receive Proton cars back in the Chilean market as its last export to our country was back in 1998. We believe this partnership will further strengthen both brands, paving the way for Andes Motor to enter the passenger car market enabling Proton to tap into a huge market potential. The entry of the Proton Preve represents a great start for both companies,” said Jorge Greene Diaz, general manager of Andes Motors.
“The Preve is one of Proton’s more dynamic sedans offering a complete product which offers performance, comfort, styling, build quality and convenience with a five-star rated safety standard. In addition, we are also looking forward to the arrival of Proton Exora and Proton Saga in Chile in the near future,” Diaz added.
It was previously reported that Proton had planned its reentry to the market since a free trade agreement was signed between Malaysia and Chile in February 2012, granting the company a 6% exemption in import duty. The Malaysian carmaker shipped 50 units of the Preve to San Antonio in March, the first batch of the 1,000 units it hopes to sell in Chile this year.
Looking to sell your car? Sell it with Carro.
I guess it took 1 month for shipment and another 2 months for Vehicle Type Approval (VTA). Roughly about there.
If you marry my sister, i will let you sell Proton in North Korea. Ok?
If u need democracy, first question is: do u have oil or valuable minerals?
All Proton sold at Chile won’t be usable in Malaysia, because Chile is LEFT HANDED driving country.
Here comes the question: Why would Proton go so bloody far to sell left handed cars (we have Cambodia, Vietnam, China, Taiwan, Indonesia here)?
Answer: Pure STUPIDITY.
Funny how dr m picture still there
cannot lah. Kim Jong never sunat so its haram. Cannot kahwin his family also or sis.
Why Proton launch in Chile? Malaysian market still waiting for the Perdana. Also we are still waiting for Proton Hybrid and Iriz EV
Where is Proton Hybrid and Proton EEV??? 8 years since Proton announced their supposedly launch of Proton Hybrid.
2 years ago Proton showcased their EEV Iriz….apa jadi? Or was that show to get the RM1.5 billion free money????
Stock clearance?
This is a real bad business strategy for this brand not promoting or selling near launch model.
Management should be fired! BTW US still pushing attractive models & selling like hotcakes!
1.3b soft loan going down the drain…
Well I guess Andes motor will become like Great Wall Motor in Malaysia. Few units sold. And that’s about it.
Aren’t haval the brandname used by Great Wall in Malaysia? I do see a lotof the M4 around…
I guess by selling cheaper in Chile than Malaysia, Proton is making a smart business choice?
Tell that to perodua that ships their car to brunei.. makan besar di msia, yet mau makan brunei jugak..
they’r not selling very well outside. they cant sell it at higher price which same as other brand.
and as for local market, please facelift and upgrade the Preve.. it’s already 2016 and Preve is already 4 years old..
And where is the 6 speed manual gearbox for that CFE engine?
The Preve and Suprima facelift is planned for 2017 I heard
With the new TGDI engine hopefully?
yep..we need something fresh! hopefully they can redesign the interior a bit.
Why would Chileans buy Proton when they can get cheaper cars from the US? US is so near to Chile and American cars are sold far cheaper. You saying Proton is better than Ford?
Or is this another way Proton can show the Government they are complying with the RM1.5 billion terms and regulations of exploring other markets?
Common sense will tell you Chile can get better cars fro the US.
U do realise that 99% US made cars r for own consumption and that Americas’ Ford r mostly made in Mexico (u know, the country below US, tequila, siesta, taco and all). And Ford Americas cars r just like toyotas here, moving coffins that relies on the badge.
So with much safer cars, P1 is giving Chileans a choice to safeguard their famili when travelling. Isnt that a win-win for all? (Well, except u bashers of course)
what rubbish are you talkng john? No such thing lah abang. then how US can export cars to Canada and Mexico etc?
Bangang betul.
Poyo betui. Sendri bangang cakap org bangang. US can export to Canada cuz their markets r more interlinked and their cost of living almost similar so no cost savings to local assemble there. Somemore their politicians dun harp on locals to get low end monkey wrench assembly jobs.
Maxico pulak is tomyam of americas, assembly shops for mostly US brands cuz labour there is cheap. But their cars in market is like vios here, all moving coffins. Only when Mexicans wan safer cars or more choices from brands not in Mexico then they go for US import, but not cheap due to exchange rate & import tax.
bangang Chile got free trade with US. US cars are super cheap in Chile
Talk-cock again lah john! U own American made car in your home???!!!
Saga & 2 airbag iriz also moving coffin
Only wrack other without admit mistake, tipu pandai
Here pipu worship moving coffin tuan jepunis junk cars. Better die stylo than saved in p1
Repeating the same thing over and over again, better worship your ketuanaan and saved by Najib
movingcoffin and john are the same person. Look at the words used. All used by john
Then why people from US are still craving Mazda MX-5 miata while they can get a Base model mustang at just a couple grand more?
Why need export then?
I think the same question should apply to all non US brand vehicles sold there.
so dont sell anywhere lah, dont try at all. so dont complain that Malaysian car cos dont try sell their wares overseas.
Well done P1. Do not dump substandard car in Chile market, like what you have done in Malaysia. Look after your brand name, and your customer will look after you. Then you shall do well. Good Luck!
Proton is a joke. Already before, Proton failed big time in all markets globally. Even Jeremy Clarkson from Top Gear and Vicky Butler Henderson from Fifth Gear as well as all UK car magazines have confirmed, Proton is the most dangerous car in the world and NOT worthy to be on any roads. This is shocking cause export Proton is 100x better quality than the Protons that are sold to Malaysians in Malaysia
Typical Proton, just waste money setting up operations in all over the world. Like in Singapore, set up fancy showroom, pay the abang abang expat salary to chill out in the showroom and lepak BUT last year alone, Proton sold a grand total of 1 car (satu sahaja). Spend about few hundred thousand ringgit in rental of premises and expat pay for the abang abang but make about RM20k for the single car sold.
The same with their UK showroom. So fancy but cost more than the little profit they got from a few cars sold in a year.
My advice to Proton is this…charity begins at home. Take care of your rakyat first. If your rakyat is so unhappy with you until you only got 100k sales last year, something is wrong with you.
Once you take care of your rakyat, then only go overseas and sell to the world. Rakyat sendiri pun tak jaga, mahu jaga orang lain.
Dear Kunci Kunta,
The other day,I met my junior staff,who has since been selling Perodua cars.
She used to work for me selling ammonium nitrate…the explosive chemical used by Takata(now near bankruptcy).
She said that Perodua will be launching sedan cars by July 2016,powered by Toyota VVTi engines.
OMG…..Proton….even if u sell to North Korea,they are for battle drills only(to test their rockets on the Preves).
So come july,I am 3000 percent sure,Perodua will continue to whack Protong cukup cukup.
Since P1 is selling less than 5000 units/month,I reckon it will be a uphill battle to reach 60,000 unit sales.
Tell us,Mr.Kenali…..how can Prootong turn around?
Already DRB lost more than 900 juta in 2015(even with Honda good sales),I think the rakyat will wake up another morning to the news that the MUS have approved another 1.5 Billion to “save suppliers and staff” from kaput.
Chile is just to prevent the sun from overheating the internal plastics of 2014/2015 stocks rotting in the sun.
2016…..another GST wrecked year.
2017…..maybe slight recovery if oil prices shoot up.
There is no light at all at the other end of the tunnel,Prootoong.
Wasting all taxes on this failed experiment.
Even a gorilla or chimpanzee can do better than these bunch of no hoppers at P1.
Why do u reply to ur own dupe? Ur toyota showroom no more sales kah?
john oh john, balik tidurlah bang. Buat apa bangun?
Dah balik dan enjoice my dinner.
What? U mean ur boss ask u to still continue working & hard selling ur coffins cuz u no achieve ur May target? Lololololololol!
malam ni malam jumaat. Otak you tak boleh fikir
P2 got better sales becoz it is much cheaper not because it is good
Oh come on Kunta ?????…..If Proton was a real joke they wouldn’t be making cars like the Preve or Suprima …..ie what we will get is cars like the Cherry QQ,Lada Granta and if you are really pushing it the Tata Nano ……so they are far from it …..
Dun mind him. Hes just another Albert Yong dupe. He has lost count so much that hes starting to reply back to his own dupe comments.
dear john, there’s no need 4 him to self reply. FACT is there r many “john hatter”S
in this blog. Just to let u know.
Dey u watch top gear bila punya zaman?
Proton suprima, preve, iriz is now 5 star ancap lah. U see result preve vs ford focus in ancap. See the score between these two car plss
….and why people still x mau beli kereta proton???
and yet the country is populated by Proton. Not like you dont see Iriz depan mata kan, question is how is DRB taking their fight to Perodua and other makes with similar capacity / class type cars to rapidly increase penetration. The Iriz/Persona sedan and facelift or new Saga will make it even more critical for Proton to up their sales and aftersales performance, irregardless of crony or merit based vendors, soft loan and supply to govt
Could work for p1 in sg this year since sg goment have extended loan years from 5 to 7y and downpayment from 50% to 30% (including with coe).. meaning more middle income people can own a car..
Will Arturo Vidal Buy it? XD
A quick google search about Andes Motor:
-They carry 3 brands, namely Foton (lorries), Maxus(commercial vans) and Golden Dragon(busses).
-They specialize in Chinese brands.
-They only have a single head office in Santiago, their products are mainly fulfilled by Kaufmann, and some second hand car dealers.
-Kauffman handles Merc, and a lot of Lorries, Vans and Industrial Vehicles.
Here’s sth about Chilean views on Proton Brands, it’s surprisingly well accepted, however their perception is that the cars were cheap rebadged Mitsubishi. Hard to tell how they will react to these new cars.
They will be up against Hyundai Elantra, Chevrolet Sail, Hyundai Accent… It’s a compact car & pick-up market there and the models mentioned above are stripped down versions.
A quick tour on Google Streetview, it’s obvious that P1 will be having a really hard time selling those cars. It’s old used car market there, been ‘visiting about 60 streets to malls parking to highways. Every car seen is about 10yo (image captured in 2012) only spotted one newer Kia. So it makes sense why new cars are compact cars, most cars there seems to be dated SUV’s, most likely second hand USA cars. Think of Kota Kinabalu car scene (but minus out the P2 cars), and that’s their capital city’s car scene.
So now I’m seriously wondering, what makes P1 think it’s a good idea to enter Chile market now? Yes their cars are slightly better offerings compared to their competitors, but the market is incredibly tiny that it doesn’t make much economical sense, at least to a tiny brand like P1.
A message to P1!
The main reason why your cars isn’t selling abroad is because it isn’t LOCALISED!! EU & Australasia markets for compact cars is WAGONS!! Suprima is a Tiny Hatchbacks compared to their Hot Hatches, even their ladies couldn’t fit their legs into it! Exora is too high for them and does not suit their outdoorsy lifestyles. What you really need now is to take the Preve add 15 cm to rear legroom and 15cm more to the trunk and turn the Preve into a wagon. Repeat the same with Perdana and you’ll be able to penetrate EU & Australasia market better. 2nd thing is high torque, they are not like us, lazily leave the stop-light, the moment it turns green they shoot for it, not because they are as-hats, they actually will feel guilty for stalling people (not our teh tarik mentality). In short, put the right product in the right market! You want more tips, try finding me! LOL! I also know why your cars isn’t selling well in M’sia too and it has nothing to do with quality.
Smart guys get it but Proton never gets it
“Every car seen is about 10yo (image captured in 2012) only spotted one newer Kia. So it makes sense why new cars are compact cars, most cars there seems to be dated SUV’s, most likely second hand USA cars. Think of Kota Kinabalu car scene (but minus out the P2 cars), and that’s their capital city’s car scene.”
have been travel to kota kinabalu yet?? or just google street view again?? have a trip to KK, n see with u own 2/4 eyes..
You made a mistake comparing parts of Chile to KK. Over 350k value Land cruisers are common sight in Sabah and Sarawak. Of course some used car dealers shipped in loads of P1 and P2 from the peninsula but mainly targeting those who cannot get bank loan. P2 outsells P1 almost 2 to 1 here. So P1 instead of wasting funds selling their cars in places where no one will buy them should concentrate on recapturing local market. What’s next? Sell P1 in Fiji? Maybe better luck in Mogadishu. However, I agree with you that some better brains are needed to run P1.
Give this man a cookie… or steering lock.
i think malaysia embassy prolly forced to take 95% of orders
Proton will become garbage car in Chile…..
They already success exported there to Chile
As a patriot and 2nd class citizen, I hope it fails.
Sungguh bangga melihat bendera jalur gemilang berkibar megah di persada antarabangsa di bumi amerika selatan. Ya teruskan Proton. I peel veri proud you…
Tok Kadok syndrome. Menang sorak, kampung tergadai.
Great news. Better late than never. Chile is the first left-hand drive market for the Prevé (and Exora).
Dr. M said that it was Andes Motor who came to Malaysia and asked Proton if they were interested to export their new models to Chile. Personally, I fully approve of this kind of partnership; Proton has no stake in Andes Motor, the Chilean company handles almost everything in their market without any intervention from Proton. Because they’ve likely spent millions on this new Proton franchise, Andes Motor will likely go all-out lest their investments be wasted.
In Australia and Indonesia, the local Proton franchises are wholly-owned by Proton themselves, and if some of us still remember, Proton overpriced the Prevé in Australia and sure enough, sales were abysmal despite the 5-star ANCAP safety and competitive aftersales package. Proton ended up slashing prices just months after launch, only then did sales pick up. And the Turbo model came way too late to make any real difference… by 2015, the Prevé was already outdated in Australia.
Had Proton Cars Australia priced the Prevé fairly in 2013, and not gotten cocky and overconfident, things may have gone very differently. Despite all of this, Australia is by far the best export market for the Prevé, some 1,000 plus units have been sold there since 2013… which is more than the sales of Indonesia and Thailand combined ! Indeed, the Prevé had soooo much potential, but Proton somehow managed to make a complete mess of things. Lately, they’ve been trying to pick up the pieces (OCH recall), and newer model Prevés are much more reliable and better built than the original 2012 models, and I’ve never heard of a single power window fault with the Prevé, but the damage has been done.
Let the Prevé be a lesson for DRB-HICOM Proton, on how NOT to market a car. I am waiting to see if the new Persona will bear the fruits of the lessons learnt from the Prevé. Until then, I stand by what I originally said in 2012; “I will only support Proton on the basis that they continue to improve (themselves and their products).” I still very much want to see Proton do well, and I know that they’re facing great difficulties this year, I can empathise with Proton’s employees to a certain extent. But they must remember that 9 out of 10 Malaysians won’t care, to most, Proton is a dying company, only a small minority realise exactly how much potential Proton has, especially after the new GDI engine and Iriz.
Anyway, I hope Proton will continue to work on expanding their other LHD export markets, especially in Egypt, Iran, Turkey and China. As always, good luck and all the best, I’ll be keeping an eye on the sales.
Hahaha new Persona looks like Dugong Vios with horrible butt.
Almari looks worse than sh*t but of course u wun persoal ur jepunis overlords, right?
No wonder proton reported a loss of almost 1 bill. All this monkeys do is go there, party, lepak, stay in 5 star hotel and no kpi. Sell only 1 car per month and still get 6 mth bonus. Bagus.
Ha ha, must check on Chile car sales by month from now, we will monitor it from here for you, well done Proton.
Wouldn’t you be pissed if you found out that Preve sold in Chile is cheaper than what you paid for locally (minus currency rate & shipping). I guess this is not the first time as for when Proton sold their cars in Australia, it was cheaper than what you would pay here locally.
Preve or Forsees in Chile should sell cheaper than Malaysian market, but the price tag only small different.. We already knew that FTA between Chile-Malaysia has been made few years ago.. 12,176,471.00 CLP = 73,341.077 MYR
chileautos.cl
Just to let you know, dear Malaysian friends: you can buy a Ford Focus, a Peugeto 308, a VW Golf or an Opel Astra with the cash Proton asks here for getting a Prevé.