Earlier this month, it was reported that Proton had received more than 40,000 bookings for the X50 up to the end of March, a figure that has led to a wait time of nearly six months for one. With total deliveries standing at 11,654 units as of March, that’s quite a bit of ground to make up.
While last month’s production of over 3,500 units was above that initially planned for the vehicle, numbers will have to be ramped up, and so we took the opportunity to ask the automaker how it was going about tackling the issue and shorten the waiting period for customers.
The company replied that there are plans to increase production volumes, but it will take time. “Our production volume is not limited by plant capacity. We want to and will gradually build up the volume, but it can’t be done immediately. It takes a considerable amount of lead time to increase production capacity and we are working with our vendors and suppliers to source enough parts to do just that,” a company spokesperson told paultan.org in a written response.
The situation has been amplified by bottlenecks caused by various circumstances, the automaker said. “From delayed shipments to restricted movement orders and even shutdowns caused by Covid-19 clusters, all these factors have played a role in delaying our initial production and are now hampering how quickly we can increase production numbers,” it explained.
“Admittedly, we did not anticipate such high booking numbers, so with regards to our stock situation, we have literally been playing ‘catch-up’ since day one. Ultimately, we are putting all our effort in to increasing our monthly production numbers and managing customer waiting times,” the company said. It added that export plans for the X50 are on the back burner as the priority is to first meet local demand.
Separately, we took the opportunity to ask about where the level of content localisation for the SUV was at now, and while the automaker didn’t provide a percentage to that, it said that involvement from the local vendor network was high and would increase.
“The X50 is at the beginning of its product life cycle and our partnership with Geely has only entered its fourth year, but even at this stage, we are well advanced with our localisation efforts and right now, there are 73 local vendors involved in the supply of parts for the X50 and X70. This will account for an estimated RM2.8 billion purchase value from Proton, and the number will of course increase as our sales go up,” it said.
The company added that as a Malaysian automotive manufacturer, it would continue to do its utmost in developing and promoting the national automotive ecosystem. “We do this by getting our vendors involved early in the development cycle of our models so that both parties may benefit from the sharing of expertise and the development of parts.”
“From the beginning, Proton has always strived to increase the sourcing of parts locally for our cars, as we believe that when the ecosystem succeeds, then the entire industry and the nation will also benefit as a result,” the automaker stated. As for the global chip shortage affecting car manufacturers globally, the company said it had been able to weather the effects, but did not disclose to what extent it had been impacted.
Looking to sell your car? Sell it with Carro.
Tin kosong tokok only.
Ativa sales gonna obvertake soon.
Body tin milo
Ativa is tin kosong, which can produce 5,000 units per month faster. Therefore, there is no problem with delivery.
It’s ok, you can take your time to increase the production unit. Others will take over your booking units.
You are right…A buyer can switch booking within a day.After all,consumers have a myriad of choices now.
A top range X50 ,an alternative is big bradder base spec x70,or pre owned Korean or Japanese SUVs,also boleh.
The world is rotating faster and faster in terms of newer tech n instant auto journalism info,like paultan.
37yrs in the carmaking bisnes, planning still failed. Maybe ano 37yrs to become regional champ
Proton didn’t you promised back in September 2020 that your manufacturing is capable of churning out 8,000 X50s by end of 2020. What happened back then you didn’t anticipate the problem and only realised it 7 months later where you could have already delivered 24,000 x50 compared to 11k now?
Dengar boleh , percaya jangan …
Eh, ada ke? Back in Sept 2020 manada X50 wei! And did anyone predicted the semicon crunch we see today? No?! Why not!
Spareparts pon takda
Placed booking X50 Flagship on 26/09/20, it is entering the 7th month to date. Still haven’t receive the car yet.
MR Michael
Your X50 most likely arrive on July 1…Tax holiday over,and unlikely to be renewed.Adinkor in bad mood now.
You might have to try different outlets that have a spare X50,where the customer’s bank loan was rejected.
Sounds like a plan.. a good plan
Good car comes to those who wait. X50
plans without a solid timeline is just a wish.
Seems the old culture of syiok sendiri and relax at DRB is still prevalent.DR.Li ..again taking panadol.Old habits die hard.Just wishful thinking,fairy tale.
Plans without a solid KPI is just a daydream.
Can’t even meet local demand but talking about S. E. A market. Spare parts also not enough. This is wat we call shiok sendiri & angkut
bakul sendiri
My X70 waiting period has increased from 2 months to 5 months. Just cancelled the booking! Such a waste of time. Never going to get another Proton in my life!!!
Bad distribution system
Booked on 16/9, still waiting
Friend booked after launch already receive it
Same spec & same colour
Proton need a change of attitude
How about x70 production?
What do you expect, most of the parts come from taiwan and china. Not to say it is not good quality just that good bye local suppliers if cant match their cost.
Is it necessary for the X50 to have 4 exhaust tail pipes when it has 3 cylinders & 1 turbocharger?
The only selling piont is the price. With only 11,000 unit delivered, defects and no replacement parts already surface, evidenced as penned by owner in their websites. Is proton infamous history gonna repeat like waja aka bmw of the east? Will quality be worst when volume been ramp up? Well, strange thing is human have short memories and a forgiving lots. Young generation buyer have not gone through the earlier proton nightmares. Let’s the merry go round and round again. Proton boleh!
With Proton Tg Malim and Shah Alam plant having a current combined production capacity of 200k vehicle per year. With proton only produced and sold an av of 100k in 2019 and 2020. Booking of the X50 at 40k and deliver taking take 6 month or more! The maths doesn’t add up. Only 40k booking already sakit kepala. Proton should not think they are already berjaya. They are way off berjaya yet! A 37 years old car manufacturing company don’t performed like this!
Contrast to what we hear in Jabatan Netizen comments, the booking numbers keep stronger and stronger despite the so called Ativa competition. They have nailed it, but they don’t expect it at this rate. Lesson learnt. Don’t listen to Jabatan Netizen census, do your own research with the real people.
I think people will wait for their new ride since X50 maybe their repolacement car or their 2nd ride. It is not like 1st timer game.
Despite the pandemic and lost source of income for most, some people gain more income and can buy new car. 40k bookings for one model proved that Malaysian are still rich people.
Booked mine in Oct 2020, delivered in April 2021
failed to plan like the f gomen
Telling people got 40K booking but now say WILL increase production (maknanya belum lagi lah). What have they been doing for so many months? That explains their productivity level.
Let’s be sensible a little, there is high quality from parts are manufactured from Ori-China and assemble locally… but due to current pandemic and global demand congestion, only Proton encounter such challenge.
Obvious there is some plan to localize parts, what really happen? Is Malaysia really weak in manufacturing parts for Geely/Proton/Lotus(and the entire range)?
Perodua plan to have Ativa to have more localize parts, but as history shown there is always the challenge of getting quality parts on par with Toyota/Daihatsu level. Perodua quality tolerance acceptance margin is bigger compare to Toyota/Daihatsu requirement.
So end of the day, rakyat jaga rakyat. Consumer looks after each other.
P2 with such quality tolerance margin is still producing better quality products than Proton. That says how bad Proton is.
Last time P1 got no customers, thus business FAILED.
Now, P1 got so many customers and bookings, still FAILED to deliver.
My last visit to service centre, still can see siput-pace service. “Rilek lah, Bang” mentality still there. Real sad.
Some words in the street says P1 seems to be cursed, or suffering bad karma.
True or false?
As a big corporate car company when you launched a new model but did not anticipate strong market response, that is totally wrong. All those involved should be removed from Proton and replaced with those capable to work smart.
I have the answer and its easy. Clearly Proton didnt have back up plans and obviously since X70 was a strong hit with Malaysians Proton officials should have expected the same thing to happen with X50.
To sum it up : makan gaji buta.
Bought over by Geely, so what? Better talk to union workers first, to increase their productively is the first priority.
I do not want to mention the brand. I worked in a manufacturing factory. Top management wondered why productivity is so low. Also got OT, there were outputs, if no OT, final adjustment always pending to fine tune. Top management decided to visit China factory which is actually the same process and same products. At China factory, they have have 10 products per day each person. Malaysia here, if got OT from 1-3 products, no OT 0 product. You can follow all the top SOP but you can not copy working attitude of the workers!
i suspect this bottlenecks are due to the local vendors not be able to cope. china people usually very fast one if not supply they make supply from sand thats how committed these people. could be alot of factors not only from the insufficient raw materials or vendors inefficiency
because perodua also use local vendors right and they doing allright
but one thing for sure is they cannot meet the demand of only 40k order. how to rule the world with 4 million orders if 40k order also very struggling…
Booked X50 in end March’21 and was told 6 months waiting period and that’s prompted me to change to X70 Premium and still waiting for the delivery which should be anytime.
Bigger and luxurious than X50 actually if admired the X70 more carefully.
China company maaa…
Where got planning one?
No man.. the factory in Malaysia, the workers are Malaysian.
I work in a different industry and we have a branch company in China. What I know, they only have one public holiday there which is CNY and they rarely have off-days. Here, our company decided to (legally) dismissed almost half of the public holidays from the year roster and most of the employee said “it’s not fair”. On top of our normal weekly off-days, annual leave and remaining public holidays, we still a lot more than our colleagues there.
When Proton goes well, it is due the Geely (China). When something is bad, it is due to Malaysian?
That’s your logic?
Ha! That’s your assumption.. I’m stating the fact that you said because it’s China company, no planning. That’s just a typically stupid thinking. How can a company like Geely grew this big if they don’t have planning? That’s your logic? A good planning is no use if people don’t follow, and us M’sians are living in comfort of our holidays and monthly paycheck without feeling the pressure of needing to perform.
Proton nie… sibuk pasal “Happy Operation Entity” je. Cubalah kerja kuat sikit.
take ur time while slowly sales gone to ativa
my booking in Sept 2020, till todate yet to receive the car.Proton what are doing ? Promised ?
building lego
Last month when I was in Brunei, there are about 20 X50 and X70 in open space beside a mall, where they having a car exhibition inside the mall
Many people didn’t know. When Tesla launched their Model S on 2012, they only able to produce 15-20 cars per week. It took them 3 years to reach production of 1000 cars per week. Tesla even almost bankrupt.
Now Proton already managed to produce 800+ cars per week. Give them time to improve. I believed they should be able to expand the productions to cater for the demands. Furthermore new model is coming up this year. The new X70 and X50 are using latest technologies and not same level with Perodua cars. You can’t compare it apple to apple in term production.
booked 16 Sep flagship, still waiting for my car, crazy~
You forgot to mention that your loan wasn’t approved. What’s to wait?
Just wanna ask is x50 flackship will last long until next year december 2023 becouse im planing to buy next year please advise me thanks