Proton has made its official return in South Africa with the launch of two SUVs – the X50 and the X70 – after a 10-year hiatus.
Four variants of the X50 will be sold in South Africa including the Standard from R449,900 (RM117k), Luxury from R499,900 (RM130k), Executive from R535,900 (RM139k), and the TGDi Premium variant from R579,900 (RM150k). Compared to the local X50, the Standard starts from RM86k, Executive from RM93k, Premium from RM101k and the Flagship from RM113k.
In case you’re wondering, the specification for the Standard, Luxury, and Executive variants of the X50 in South Africa are similar to the Standard, Executive, and Premium variants in Malaysia. The Premium TGDi variant is similar in specifications to the Flagship variant in Malaysia.
The top of the range TGDi Premium in South Africa puts out 177 PS and 255 Nm of torque from a 1.5 litre three-cylinder turbocharged engine with direct injection, while the lower variants of the X50 produces 150 PS and 226 Nm of torque from the same 1.5-litre three-cylinder engine with multi-point injection.
As for the X70, the Standard 2WD variant starts from R529,900 (RM137k), Executive 2WD from R579,900 (RM150k), Executive AWD from R629,900 (RM145k) and the range-topping Premium 2WD from R639,900 (RM163k). For comparison, the Standard 2WD in Malaysia starts from RM98k, Executive 2WD from RM110k, Executive AWD from RM116k and the Premium 2WD from RM123k.
Unlike the X50, all variants of the X70 are powered by the 1.5 litre three-cylinder TGDi engine with 177 PS and 255 Nm of torque.
The Proton X50 and X70 will be sold via Combined Motor Holdings (CMH) through 25 dealers within the next six months. The first 17 of which have already undergone sales and technical training, with a full range of replacement parts already in stock at a distribution centre.
The two SUVs will be joined by the Proton Saga later this year or beginning in 2023. Currently, export sales for Proton at the end of August stood at 4,040 units, representing an increase of 33.9% over the total number for 2021.
“Proton is aggressively pursuing export sales as we believe it is one of the pillars to growing our overall volumes. There is a lot of potential for growth in our international markets, not just for the Proton brand but for the local automotive industry too so we want to establish a firm foothold while these markets are still accessible,” said Roslan Abdullah, Proton deputy CEO.
“Our aim is to achieve 6,000 export sales this year and while we remain confident of achieving our goal, there is a lot of work ahead of us to identify suitable partners to gain entry to more countries to achieve bigger goals in the future,” he added.
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Just wondering, they have no parts for existing customers but got parts to build new cars for export?
Who? South Africa? Stop looking down onto them! They arent as poor as you think. Stop your discrimination and bias. I hope PaulTan moderators will give you an infraction warning for wanking your superiority ego here.
Your brain full of discrimination, bias and racism.
Which part of my post looking down on South african? You knocked your head on something?
Don’t blame others when you did not make your comment clear enough. Next time before you post, get it edited. It is obvious many did not understand your comment and still don’t get it.
It’s obvious you don’t read enough.
Newme. Stop blaming others when you lacked proper communication skills. Yes it is a skill so take some effort and time to learn it before your next post.
Alan, stop blaming for your poor comprehension skills. Dah kantoi, just apologize and move on. Other people can understand but you can’t proves just how bad your reading capability.
They had solved the issue many moons ago, but unless you have a Proton, you wouldn’t have known that.
Did you put your head too long in your oven newme?
Chill man, he was talking about Proton
Conjecture. He never mentioned Proton in his comments, although his past remarks had always been against the brand so take it knowing his bias.
Who? Do you even understand their comment? They’re just being skeptical over proton exporting cars even though no spare parts..
YAWN
i’ve been touting that everyone, from cars to semicon to livestock had faced shortages globally since the return back to normality – P1 haters please notice.
i’ve used many descriptors and links in my comments, and they have all been proven true.
but there are far too many self-interested parties looking to score hits or likes which are far from impartial.
i will be highly interested if you actually made that statement from first hand ownership of a P1 instead of parroting others in Facebook.
where’s our spare parts? hopefully not all going to SA instead
Inb4 that bongok banduan najip compared himself w SA’s most venerable supreme leader Mandela. LOL bodo is free , najip sapu smue hahahah
This is not a political blog stupid. Go find somewhere else to show off your PH braindead stupidity.
You should ask Perodua for that stranded myvi of yours. Why ask Proton?
cant even handle malaysia market want go overseas.
In that case Japan should not go overseas and return to closed off Tokugawa era?
jokes on you, the japanese branded cars are probably made overseas
taking Chinese re-badged cars to South Africa is not something to be proud of where money goes to Geely pocket not Proton.
I think Proton will do very well in South Africa, we shouldn’t be listening to negative thoughts this time around. I encourage people to go visit their nearest Proton dealerships and do test drive the vehicle. They will be impressed with the brand. I drove the car myself and it’s doing extremely well.
Better Wait one year after the pandemic that causes supply change backlogs…