It may have been close to two months since the devastating floods that hit Selangor hard at the end of 2021, but the full brunt of their impact is only now making itself known – at least, as far as Proton’s sales are concerned. The national carmaker registered just 4,453 vehicles (including exports) in January, a far cry from the 14,187 units it sold in December that helped it secure its highest annual sales figure since 2014.
Some 25.3% fewer vehicles ended up in buyers’ hands compared to the same month last year, which itself was affected by the reinstatement of the movement control order – against December’s figures, sales plunged by a whopping 68.6%. The company’s estimated market share also fell to 11.3%.
Proton attributed this to vendors being affected by the floods around the Shah Alam area, which hampered production and left dealers short on stock. This was compounded by a lack of carryover stock from December as the company worked to close the gap between supply and demand.
Much of the shortfall came from the Saga – Proton’s perennial bestseller faltered in January with sales of just 76 units, lower than all but the Exora’s 54 units. It was left to the SUVs to hold the fort as production of the X50 and X70 were the first to be restarted, and while sales of 2,601 units and 799 units respectively were far below December’s figures, they were still enough for the company to lead the SUV table. Behind them were the Persona (694 units) and Iriz (229 units), as usual.
“After a successful end to 2021, January was a very tough month for Proton. Our short supply situation became magnified by the lack of units being produced, creating a severe shortage for our dealers. Thankfully, production for all our models resumed in January, though some required more time than others. We are, however, confident of meeting our targets for 2022 based on market projections as well as our sales and marketing plans for the rest of the year,” said Proton Edar CEO Roslan Abdullah.
In other news, Proton announced that it has received over 1,200 vehicles at its service centres for flood-related repairs. “Proton would like to remind all customers with flood damaged cars to send their vehicles to our network of authorised service centres to enjoy benefits such as free towing and car wash services as well as discounted parts and labour charges. We are also thankful to the government for the RM1,000 assistance voucher, which has proven to be invaluable for many of our customers,” added Roslan.
It hasn’t been a strong start to the company’s ambitious year in which it targets to sell 150,000 vehicles, according to Proton CEO Li Chunrong.
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Cannot imagine. If there was no flood issue proton could have pushed another 14k Sagas and last month storyline would be proton sold nearly 19k cars.
Ada saja alasan. Lets see if other brands also facing the same problem since most vendors also supply to other car brands.
You mean like these alasan?
https://paultan.org/2022/01/05/perodua-to-review-240k-2022-sales-target-this-month/
https://paultan.org/2022/01/04/perodua-2021-sales-at-190291-units-short-of-200k-target-covid-19-chip-shortage-flood-impact-cited/
https://paultan.org/2022/02/07/chip-shortage-expected-to-continue-this-year-report/
https://paultan.org/2022/01/20/toyota-cuts-february-2022-production-by-150000-units/
https://paultan.org/2021/03/02/proton-working-round-the-clock-to-revamp-aftersales/
They’ve been trying their utmost best, but..
Copy paste: “All manufacturers are also facing shortages.”
As already stated earlier, they’ve been trying their utmost best, but…
What’s the waiting period for x70.. Does anyone know?
This scenario of P1 banging on volume sales from the Saga may backfire.
Yes,volume is important,but if the margins ,are marginal,might aw well target higher sales of the other products like X50,70 and coming X90,which I believe give higher returns.
The Exora is a “sunset ” mpv.The persona ,unfortunately still underperforms.
So,I believe 130,000 units might be the end result this 2022.
Whichever way one look at it,P2 will still be “pertama”this Omicronic stricken year.
Well Proton is ahead on the margins game, with >40% of sales coming from higher margin x50 & x70. This in contrast to P2 only 20% of sales in the higher margin cars. P2 will still be “pertama” but not because of choice, they have no choice as the have no margin and need to push volume, as you have put it.
So what’s the production cost of the X50 & the X70 respectively?
Binyue sold in China for RM 47k. X50 sold in Msia for RM 79k.
Boyue sold in China for RM 73k. X70 sold in Msia for RM 95k.
Profit margin is far higher than what P2 can get from Aruz & Ativa.
So, are u saying (& confirming) that the per unit cost of production for Binyue in China is the same as that for X50 in Malaysia, and that the per unit cost of production for Boyue in China is also the same as that for X70 in Malaysia?
January’s Saga is so exotic compared to 599 units of Ferrari Daytona.
Not good sign
What about Perodua? The same predicament happened
150k annual sales target lol