Last Friday, Proton launched its range of facelifted models, the Iriz, Persona and Saga, in Brunei – making the Borneo country the first export market for these cars. The market availability of these three vehicles will be followed by a series of roadshows that will kick off on January 28.
The Bruneian launch is just the start of the national carmaker’s export market offensive, as it aims to become the third bestselling brand in ASEAN in the long term. The company said growing its overseas sales is critical to this plan, after it successfully secured second place in the local standings.
“When we updated the Iriz, Persona, Exora and Saga last year, we did so taking in to account the needs of markets outside of Malaysia and today, three of them are now available in Brunei. It’s a good start to 2020 but as the year progresses, we will be looking to export our cars to more countries,” said CEO Li Chunrong.
Proton is also looking to increase sales of the X70 SUV, now that locally-assembled 2020 model year versions are rolling off the new RM1.2 billion plant extension in Tanjung Malim. Li reiterated that further models being developed in collaboration with Geely are in the pipeline.
“Exporting the X70 will be critical for Proton’s future sales growth, especially in neighbouring ASEAN countries. It will spearhead the introduction of the next generation of Proton models currently being jointly developed with Geely and will lay the groundwork for the brand with customers in these markets,” he added.
The Iriz, Persona and Saga were revised last year with new designs inspired by the X70 – including the brand’s latest Infinite Weave grille – and improvements that include new touchscreen infotainment systems for all three models. The Saga also received a new Hyundai-sourced four-speed automatic transmission to replace the much-maligned CVT.
GALLERY: 2019 Proton Iriz facelift
GALLERY: 2019 Proton Persona facelift
GALLERY: 2019 Proton Saga facelift
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Tahniah P1! P1 moving into Brunei and Geely moving into Jepun! HAHAHAHAHAAHAHAHA!!!
P1, Geely, Volvo, Mesidis, London Taxi, Lotus > all
Proton X70 really affordable here, B$31,500 only.
Top selling in segment, Ppl here trust MY quality.
Better to thank Geely for helping Game Over Proton moving into Brunei. What can Proton do without Geely’s help?
Malaysian car is cheaper overseas? Kelakar betul. 20 yrs we suffer high car prices because we protect Proton.
Last time can even get Toyota Corolla for RM20k. Now Toyota Corolla is RM139k because of protecting Proton.
So how come Proton don’t care for us back by giving us cheap car prices?
I heard the entire fleet of Proton cars are sold HALF PRICE to rich SAUDI ARABIA people.
Proton oh Proton
Easy for you to say. Source mana? Don’t just lie here.
Don’t be lazy, check the Internet. It is there. Everything also want people to do work for you
Nope. Google tells me otherwise. So nope sorry I am calling your BS on that.
Yeah friend. Japan better thank Geely too for transforming their taxi industry from the old, outdated and polluting taxis they are using now with London Taxi cabs which is newer, safer, and more environment friendly. What can Japan taxi industry do without Geely’s help? Were they sleeping for decades?
Biggest joke ever. Malaysian car Proton X70, made for Malaysians, is being sold for RM85k to super rich Bruneians. Here, same car RM123k. Buta buta RM40k more.
This means, Malaysians are subsidizing super rich Bruneians. Bruneians don’t have to pay income tax, education and healthcare is completely FREE and average Government Servant in Brunei earn B$6000 per month (RM18,000)
Another big joke is, complete CBU Boyue, which is the Proton X70, is sold for RM60k in China.
I thought, come to Malaysia, with CKD parts, should be sold RM40k. Pulak go to RM123k
I don’t see a problem with Proton selling it at RM123k and why not. That would mean they are profiting RM60k and a company purpose is to make profits not charity. You want charity go find a charity organisation, you find charity in a car. 26k customers and more coming don’t have this problem to pay RM123k so what is your problem? If you can’t afford it, just wait for X50 that will be cheaper and more affordable for you. You so want a Proton I know, but if you can’t afford an X70 just buy Persona, Saga, Preve, Exora or wait until X50 arrives this year.
Malaysians suffered with RM20 billion in bailouts for Proton.
We expect PRoton to give rakyat of Malaysia cheap cars too.
Proton is a business and their primary intent is to make money. We are not Red Cross, but neither are they. If you cannot afford it, work harder and stop complaining.
with Proton CEO Dr.Li Chunrong ;
Over the past months, we have focused on seven strategic thrusts to restore confidence and trust in Proton.
The first is on product. An enterprise can only do well if its product is excellent. Our customer survey shows that our image has gone up after the launch of Proton X70. It represents a Proton/Geely product.
This month, we are going to launch updated models of Iriz and Persona at competitive pricing. The improvement is on the exterior and interior, as well as quality.
Improvements are made to more than 300 items. This year, we will also see the production of CKD (completely knocked down) vehicles.
The second thrust of our strategy is on quality. After 12 months of operation, the quality of Proton cars improved by four times based on the Volvo standard.
Five or six years ago, Huawei was not famous. But today, it is famous due to its special and excellent products. Proton will be the same.
Our third thrust is on cost reduction. I set a target for our suppliers to reduce their costs by 30%. If Proton can reduce cost by 30%, why can’t they?
For Proton, we started with logistics. We reduced our regional car parts warehouses to four from 16, to bring down costs by 31%. In terms of savings, it is RM33mil per year.
When I was working in China, there was only one stockyard for Geely. China is bigger than Malaysia. Why do you need 16 here?
For components, we have brought down the cost of buying steel coils and resin by teaming up with Geely in bulk purchase.
As for other components, it is more difficult to cut cost. My target is 30%, but I only managed to cut 10% last year. So for this year, we have to work harder to cut another 20%.
The key problem in Malaysia is: there are not many vendors. Maybe only one for one car component. In China, there are many.
Hence, we need to give our vendors more business to help them make money. This is why we sped up rolling out the X70. We have to speed up product launches to help vendors.
Our fourth strategic thrust is on sales network: we have upgraded most of the sales centres to 3S and 4S sales/service centres. Proton now has 75 upgraded outlets. We aim to have 100 centres this year.
The fifth thrust is to optimise plant capacity. We are working towards moving all our manufacturing operations (scattered in various places) to our factory in Tanjung Malim.
The sixth thrust is on progressive localisation. We will invite our 17 foreign vendors to set up plants in Tanjung Malim via collaborative arrangements. This will bring in investments totalling RM217mil for Malaysia.
The seventh thrust is on talent. Behind every product is people and behind people is culture (team work, work ethics, integrity and attitude towards learning and achievement).
Now we have talents from 13 countries, compared to only one (Malaysia) previously.
On the board of directors (BOD), there are experts from China, the United States, Malaysia and Germany. In the seven-member top management team, we have local talents as well as those from China, Japan and Canada.
Without these talents, we could not have rolled out the X70 and updated the Iriz and Persona models.
Thank you Li Chunrong, Geely and China for helping Proton to do exporting business. Otherwise, Proton would have already Game Over completely in International market
My friend, you previously told us here we should not follow China and instead follow your Japan overlord. Now your Japan overlord has fallen and their sales are going down the drain even Toyota begging for EV tech from Geely, then later you come and told us we should follow China. In that case I propose we follow Martians. At least they have flying cars. Agreed?
Lucky China, Geely and Li Chunrong helped save Proton. We need more Mainland people into Malaysia to help run our GLCs more efficiently.
Look at TH, already needed RM10.3 bil bailout, if we have another Li Chunrong running it, he can turn it around and make it profitable like Proton
We should not syiok sendiri when China is doing all the work and have given the product buta buta to us ie the X70 and X50
Without China, even our HSR, ECRL etc etc etc also collapse.
Thank you China!!! Pendatang rindu sama mu
Brunei has a very small market, itself a limiting factor but it is also an open market where all cars are CBU and relatively cheap.
Can count by finger proton sale at Brunei!
If you had 400 fingers lor.
Syukur x1000. P1 now is sold in Brunei.
Bruneians so rich, Proton is what they buy for the Indo maid to go pasar.
So Peroduas must be for their ditch diggers.