Have you seen the Proton S70 on the road? Neither have we, despite it being over a month now since the sedan’s grand launch on November 28 last year. Indeed, Proton’s 2023 sales performance announcement revealed that only 109 units of the S70 were registered in 2023, presumably as test drive units for dealerships, as the company admitted then that customer deliveries were yet to start.
We posed this question to Proton at the ongoing S70 media drive and deputy CEO Roslan Abdullah revealed two reasons in the delay of customer deliveries. One is to ensure quality, two is to have the cars registered in 2024 for resale value reasons. There are two aspects to the former – parts and process.
“Production is not slow, but what we’re maintaining is ensuring the quality, because this is a new model for us, and we have to ensure parts quality maturity, as well as our process – assembly maturity. The stock is being produced, but we’re checking thoroughly to ensure that we don’t face the similar problems as when we were so eager to deliver the car to the market,” Roslan said.
“We had a good lesson learned in the past and we won’t make the same mistake, but we’re increasing deliveries starting this month,” he added, without naming the previous model.
“We launched it on November 28, and of course, some customers would like to have it in December, but at the end of the day if you deliver the car or register it in 2023, when it comes to 2024, even if it’s just one day, the market value will be affected. Then the issue of lower second hand value will come in next three years time, or four or five years, just because of the few days,” he explained, roping in RV as a point.
“We engaged with our dealers to communicate with our customers. But for this month, we’re gradually increasing deliveries. Production has been quite stable, but we’re throughly checking, ensuring (the quality) of the process and parts, because some of the unique parts are newly produced by our local vendors, so this is something we have to take extra caution in terms of checking,” the Proton Edar chief reiterated.
The Proton S70 comes in four variants, and they are the Executive, Premium, Flagship and Flagship X. The entry-level Exec kicks off the range at RM73,800, while the Premium sells for RM79,800. For many, the Flagship is where the S70 range truly starts, and it’s yours for RM89,800. If you want a sunroof, dashcam and the exclusive Quartz Black paintjob, the Flagship X is priced at RM94,800.
All S70 variants are powered by a 1.5 litre three-cylinder turbo engine with 150 PS and 226 Nm of torque from 1,750 to 4,000 rpm. This is the engine found in the non-Flagship X50, and the seven-speed wet dual-clutch automatic is also the same transmission that moves the SUV.
More on the Proton S70 in our launch report and spec-by-spec video comparison.
GALLERY: Proton S70 1.5T Flagship X
GALLERY: Proton S70 1.5T Premium
GALLERY: Proton S70 1.5T Executive
Looking to sell your car? Sell it with Carro.
“Ensure high quality” is just another way to say got quality issue and need more time to identify root cause, worst if cars already left production line. Just come clean.
We don’t want the repeat of Gen 2 days do we?
Please fire this guy if Proton is keen to move forward.
Not the first time he said something without any sense.
Either that or stop him from talking to media.
Cannot fire him because it is Malaysia’s garmen policy to have a certain percentage of workers from a particular race! Duhhh…
Never heard of such policy before
There r thousands of bumis who r better qualified,dignified,honest, down to earth professionals who can do a better job than this dude.
Time for Dr.Li to wield the axe…but DRB is sure to protest.It all boils down to company politics now.
Sure! Our DPM, PM, Bossku…oh no, you guys won’t lodge a polisi report against me for sedition here right? Sori sori…
It’s a lopsided policy called dasar ekonomi baru meant to spoonfeed & tongkat their weak & lazy at the expense of taxpayers
why not fire the ceo since he has the (damaging) final say? oh cannot because the supplier from his race will sabotage kaw2 like what had happened historically. or they will surely play victim when people found out their dirty tricks. duhh
Since none of the rakyat have been given the car,then why all the fanfare ….few thousand bookings trumpeted?
Only one third of the dealership has received a demo S70.
Is the Roslan dude asking the dealers to ‘smell’ for burning wires…to get greenlight from dealership QC,before expanding the production run?
Come on,P1…nowadays with the internet…u cant just bullshit your way thro.
This is abad 21….the age of AI.
We dont buy this piece of crap and bullshit,P1.
Lots of water dripping out from the exhausts, was that any issues?
This is why sane people would not pay over 70k for a Potong…unless you guys want to believe the BS that is being spun here!
Betul tu jgn sampai dah deliver kat customer dorang berlagak sakan tiber kete terbakar tengah jalan. Malu dorang nnt
So unnecessary for him to bring up the RV issue because delivery is end of year.
So? If that’s the concern, why Proton delivers other models in December? Is it then Proton’s policy to not deliver any cars in December to “protect” its customers?
Rubbish ceo gives rubbish answer.
RV was clearly not the issue or decision point. Just come clean and say the recall has happened before delivery.
Actually what parts do you need or do you have lack off? The Engine is the same as X50 produced since 2020 also shares the exact same BMA architecture as the x50 also produced back in 2020.
A brain. I lack one.
I seen one in Puchong a 2 or 3 days ago.
Saw 2 S70 on the road this week around my place. Nice looking physically.
Danny, as I recalled, the resale value is based on Manufacturing Year, not registration year? If this is true, then the stock to be given to customer is 2023 or 2024?
expired stock from 2023,
should give used car price.
You actually play along with him?
RV is clearly not the reason for any car manufacturer when it comes to delivery.
never mind， world class aftersales, got problem tunggu part la, china mari
It shows that even U don’t have the confidence on your product when the first thing u talk about is resale value. People who used their cars want it to last longer.
It’s a Potong, the resale value is as good as used tissue paper!
That’s what my wife said too
Literally saw one today as I drove out from my car park. Marine looks really beautiful almost like black
If RV is an issue then why launch the car in November? Can’t they launch it at the start of January?
Clearly this excuse was just some nonsense that he pulled out of his a$$ and not the true reason for the delays. There must be some major production line issues afoot.
Proton S 70 facing lower arm and others part quality issues
1. “ensure quality” does proton dont have prototype phase? KS phase? T1 phase? “Part’s & assemble” maturity should be done during this phase, Lols.
2. Second hand/resale values. Leave it to the buyers, the buy it because they want it. If they really concern on resale value of course they will wait for 2024. Double LOLS.
Stop spitting nonsense P1
Let me rephrase that;
Business set launch deadline. Production failed to meet them.
Simple.
Thank you Danny . U saved me. Proton is rejected by me . I go buy resale car Korean car
Those Genius prefer 18 Dec 2023 than 18 Jan 2024 registered cars, the same Genius who buy life insurance before their Birdday.
Quality my foot! Own and driven many Proton cars. All have quality issues even during warranty period. From power window, gearbox KO, engine issue, etc. etc. Wira, Saga, Person, Exora. This guy should be fired! If not because of price “gap” due to protectionism, would not even consider P1s.