Remember EON? For those old enough, Edaran Otomobil Nasional (EON) was synonymous with Proton, pretty much like what Auto Bavaria is to BMW and Cycle & Carriage is to Mercedes-Benz. Now, word is that EON could soon be back selling Proton cars.
According to The Edge, Proton could undergo a restructuring exercise that would see it split up its sales and car assembly divisions. According to sources of the business daily, Proton has plans to sell dealerships under its wholly-owned Proton Edar unit to EON, and palm off the rest of the dealerships en bloc to others.
“For instance, if EON is not keen to handle the Sabah and Sarawak sales, then Proton may seek parties interested in taking over that business. But EON has sort of a right of first refusal,” the source said. It’s understood that groups that may be keen to take over the dealerships that EON may not be interested in, have already been identified.
The source adds that this move can be easily completed as EON is wholly owned by DRB-Hicom, which has a 50.1% stake in Proton. China’s Geely owns the other 49.9% of Proton.
According to The Edge, a CTOS check reveals that in its financial year that ended in March 2019, Proton Edar posted an after-tax loss of RM159.24 million on the back of RM3.85 billion in revenue. In the previous fiscal year, the company incurred losses of RM271.52 million from RM3.3 billion in receipts.
Also, Proton Edar had RM289.92 million in accumulated losses as at end-March 2019, RM1.02 billion in total assets and RM1.29 billion in total liabilities. However, full contribution from the strong-selling Proton X70, which was launched in December 2018, will only be reflected on paper end-March 2020.
Proton sales are on the up. Last year, the revitalised national brand jumped to the runners up spot from fourth in 2018, the only change in the top 10 standings. It was the biggest mover in 2019 too with 100,183 units sold – that’s an additional 35,439 units over 2018’s total, or a massive 54.7% jump. That’s from a full year of X70 sales and the revamped PIES (Persona, Iriz, Exora, Saga) range, and will be reflected in the financial year ending March 2020.
Before the Covid-19 pandemic triggered a global health and economic disaster, Proton declared a 32% higher sales target for 2020, to be fuelled by the CKD locally-assembled X70 and the much-anticipated “X50” crossover. However, as with most businesses, this will have to be revised.
EON was established in 1984 to distribute Proton cars, but after a fallout with Proton’s management, the carmaker set up Proton Edar and relegated EON to super dealer status. In 2009, EON and Proton signed a master dealership agreement, and the resulting consolidation saw EON outlets migrating to Proton Edar. It was at this point that EON ceased to be a Proton dealer.
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Syed Mokhtar wrestled back selling right to DRB- HICOM. Proton 51% owned, EON 100% owned. For The Edge, the daily already bungkus.
Proton Edar and DRBailout, what’s new?? Syed Mokhtar wrestled RM5B S.alam land from geely.
Selling China cars is good business.
this thing is just like gohet gostan gohet gostan.
proton should do thing differently like
selling
1. proton saga premium Auto and Premium Manual only.
2. proton iriz premium Auto 4AT and premium Manual only.
3. proton persona premium Auto and premium Manual
4. proton exora premium turbo Auto 4 or 6 speed torqe converter only.
then it will be good.
Hope it will be still ok for P1!
USPD
Know “Paultan” is primarily related to auto news, but also remember: EON Bank
Fake news from The Edge once again! Aisey man!
Proton spent so much effort & resources to upgrade Proton’s dealership into 3S/4S centers and improving the sales and service quality in line with Geely & Volvo. Why would they throw all that away and cause Proton’s image to deteriorate again? The reason why people say Proton had bad service was due to EON outlets and Dr Li is fully aware about this matter. I for sure will never go to an EON service center for my X70. Proton Edar so far is still the best.
How is this “news” outlet still existing boggles my mind!
syed mokhtar realizes honda not doing so well now eh
EON…last time hisap darah like shit, they like to top up accessories on proton car and charged at super high rates, i.e sticker for car body cost RM700+ at year 1999, now at year 2020, the same sticker can get from shopee for RM200+ plus installation cost, not exceed RM350…banyak kuat makan suap this EON…