A couple of months ago, it was reported that Proton’s vendors were facing “severe financial strain” due to the national carmaker failing to honour the number of parts it ordered for its SUV models – the X50, X70 and X90. We raised this issue during a Q&A session after yesterday’s media briefing, and the company’s deputy CEO Roslan Abdullah stepped in to give his comments on the situation.
Roslan said the problem stemmed from an unexpected slowing of sales due to the influx of new competitors from China, particularly Chery. “The [current] situation, with competitors coming into the same product [segment], their price gap not more than RM5,000, impacts our [ability] to honour [orders].
“When we planned [our production] for the X50 in 2020, for example, the [Honda] HR-V was the only competitor. But as of now, I think some of you just came back from China [after Auto China 2024 in Beijing], you know how many cars will come and [take a piece of the pie],” he said, adding that Proton was adjusting production to clear outstanding stock, hence the reduction in orders.
A different take was offered by director of manufacturing Mohd Shaharuddin, who said that Proton has a rule of committing to one month of full orders and five months of forecast orders, with a fluctuation not exceeding five per cent each month.
However, the most recent issue with not honouring orders was not caused by Proton not wanting to build the cars, but certain suppliers not being able to produce the parts and holding up the supply chain. “We have 127 suppliers, but three major suppliers cannot deliver the parts, so definitely we cannot produce the cars,” he said. “For the past three months this is what has been happening.”
As for complaints that Proton was sourcing more components from China at the expense of local vendors, Roslan said the issue, as always, came down to cost – implying that Chinese-made components are cheaper. “When we put anything with the Proton logo, customers expect it to be cheaper than the rest. So what choice do we have in order for us meet customers’ expectations?”
He added that Proton has requested its local vendors to focus on reducing prices to enable its vehicles to be sold at prices that met expectations. “We can just say, “OK, when the [vendors] increase the price, we just increase the car price.” And yes, we can get a higher profit per unit, but can we go for Malaysia #1 or ASEAN #3 [in terms of sales numbers]? That’s the question [we ask ourselves].
“In spite of that, being a Malaysian company, we always focus on the Malaysian vendors to develop and focus on achieving better cost effectiveness,” Roslan remarked.
Proton will surely be hoping that the product refreshes coming to its ageing SUV models – including a facelifted X70 due this year – will reverse its fortunes and bring sales back to “normal” levels. In the meantime, vendors will just have to hold out a little bit longer.
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Alasan saja
Boikot Proton
Love to see these B40 brands fight for B40 market share
Ah yes Proton the pRowar of Cronies Vendors here in Malaysia thanks to the makan sama-sama Vendors King and APs King at the expense of everyone else – easy money mah need to feed my own family, friend and myself.
Haha… its always fault of other people.
Missing forecast figure did not just happen recently. Ask any vendor. It’s a classic issue way before middle kingdom came.
#sudahlaprotonwithexcuses
Forever giving some BS excuse.
Proton lack export market. The volume from Malaysian market alone not enough to be competitive. That we already know for so long.
they should send it every African nation !
Typical jaguh kampung
Same old story, year in year out, decades down the road we are still hearing the same excuses. What I want to know is why PERODUA does not face the same problem?
Coz, perodua not in the same price and class league of competition of what proton is facing.
Perodua is using Toyota supply chain. Perodua is dominating Malaysian market. Do you noticed perodua cars not as cheap as proton in the market? They may have better costing which is more realistic and they can shares with Toyota supply chain.
Not to mention better supply chain management too. Credit to perodua
Masa tak ada kompetitor seronok jual harga mark up. Dah ada kompetitor baru tahu langit tinggi rendah. Goodluck Asean number 3 lol
“The [current] situation, with competitors coming into the same product [segment], their price gap not more than RM5,000, impacts our [ability] to honour [orders]. This proved that Proton has mark up the price of the X-series extremely high that even the other Chinese competitors without any incentive manage to price the products with only RM5k different.
Wrong. The reason the gap is so close is the other Chinese brands are given customised incentives that allow their prices to be low without having to commit to source locally, provide jobs, perform R&D and a host of other requirements Proton and Perodua have to fulfill. What are these incentives and the rates? Well now…that’s OSA level stuff.
The best example is TESLA. The sales company isn’t even registered in Malaysia and all the profits are repatriated overseas but they get incentives like a local OEM.
Why is the price gap so close between a national and non-national car? Even the non-national car offers longer warranty period.
As if the Proton X50 and X70 aren’t Chinese. Those are plain rebadged Geely Coolray and Ankarra
It come down to accuracy of forecasting ..
Competition is good and healthy. Kalau takut competition baik tinggal dalam gua atau hutan dan shiok sendiri. Tapi untuk champion dan winner, mereka suka competition.
local vendor price expensive than china counterpart is most bullshit comment i’ve ever heard. it is more on proton want to maximise the profit rather than helping local vendor to be more productive. even you gui software doesn’t equipped with AA and AC while aftermarket china GUI is already have that long time ago. so where is proton commitment with national automotive policy? just scrap it la and stand in the same playing field level so no tongkat tax exemption that only applied to proton.
He blamed the competition for not being able to honour the contract? So, they don’t expect competition? They expect people HAVE to buy Proton? What a bullshit excuse, coming from the CEO. So
Adding to that, the SUV just coming in these past 1-2 years only but Proton spare part issues been plauging since 2019. So, again, what a bullshit excuse.
if cost is the criteria, all local vendors can close shop
Proton is too cautious and slow in launching new models or refresh. It takes too long just to do a simple rebadge or to change from LHD to RHD, they need to move faster. Look how fast new models are refreshed from its competitors. The X70 after so many years only looking at a facelift, no major change and yet we see testing after testing, how much R&D you wanna do on the donated bumper or a new grill? Its sourced from Geely and already OTR in China and globally for many months, the X70 donor car Geely Boyue already refresh how many times and the replacement Boyue Cool already out. Technically the X70 should be launching an all new model based on Boyue Cool already.
Same with the X50, its time for a facelift this yr to fend off competitor. The X90 is not selling well becos Proton took too long to launch. Same with the current Persona, really due for new model to bring it up to tech with competitor – it badly need it.
Proton really need to lean on the tech available from Geely and build from there. We can develop future models internally but for now Proton need to grab market share and only when it is profitable and able to lead the market it can think of developing more areas internally. this is what perodua did – like myvi gen 1 & 2, pratically same as donor car from daihatsu and we can see perodua doing more in the gen 3.
The amortisation cost for a RHD X70, X50 and X90 is borne by Proton only. Not shared with Geely. Proton sold 60,000m SUVs last year. It’s best ever year for SUV sales. Is that enough to okay for the cost of taking a Bo Yue, Bin Yue and Hao Yue and turn them into Proton’s?
Are Toyota and Daihatsu RHD producers? Does Geely make any RHD cars? Don’t you think Proton would love to be able to sell newer cars as quickly as they are launched in China?
The solution is quite simple: if garmen no approve Cherry Tomato low low car price, but insists they price their rear axle Potong loose OMG crap be priced at least RM20,000 more than any Potong cars, we don’t need to have this article at all. So, question is, why is Cherry Tomato cars so cheap despite same crap “quality” with Potong?
Please laa, don’t makan gaji buta. Do you want Geely to send their management team to show you how it’s done?
Thats Geely’s master plan. take over proton completely, ship all parts from china.
See all these useless faces
Telling the problem is not why you are hired En Roslan. I can do the job and take your fat salary too if that’s the case.
Volvo Tech Car for Soup Munchers
Dude was hired to tell stories…whether it is pure excuses or fantasy …a kindy kid can tell with so much info in the internet.
So much for ASEAN #3 plan. X70, X50, Saga VVT and even Iriz not sold in thailand and indonesia in 2022. And 2023.
And 2024. Question is when?
Why didn’t the CEO of Proton explain the situation? With the responsibility and accountability that comes as a CEO (which is renumerated very well), he should come forward and address this issue himself.
Why the production of proton cars have been stopped in Pakistan!!. I suggest that Proton Malaysia should take over the proton plant in Pakistan.
SKELETON OUT, ANOTHER EXCUSE…WHEN RIVAL LAUNCH BETTER PRICING & SPECS…
MUST COMPLAIN NEED GOV HELP! HELP!!! ELSE CRONY FINISH
What is the point giving Proton a favourable tax waiver when they do not give business to local suppliers but import cheaper parts from China. For me, Proton is just like another assemblers like Honda and Toyota. The tax rate shall be equally applied. I deman the MOT minister to make a statement. Do not hide behind the curtain.
Ada saja alasan…… hempeh
If you are comparing Malaysia’s manufacturer scale vs China’s manufacturer scale, how to compare and compete? China is second largest population in the world. Higher volume always lower price….Is that means all Malaysian manufacturer have to close shop.
Proton should focus on A segment car with lesser high “good to have” tech. I believe develop more cars like current SAGA small segment car should be good enough.
Still hibernating in their cozy gua!
Too slow..other than the X series, design are outdated & far too long not updated. Been eagerly waiting for X50 facelift that the Philippines got there but i doubt they’ll introduce it anytime soon. Open your damn eyes P1-CEO!!
Typical plotek attitude. If you cant compete better close shop. Seriously we dont need proton. Better just sell china car instead of syok sendiri proton. With Chery vast models and better features, it makes proton look old and dated. Even the X90 pale in comparison to Tiggo 8 pro.
With the tongkat u can compete in a price war with them and still make good profits. Stop complaining and get to work!
And…they’re gonna force dealers to buy more stock…as usual.
Im buying saga or persona only if any improvements update like timing chain engine and no more punch cvt gearbox. Not interested to spend rm80K~rm130k to buy any timing belt 3 cylinder high fuel consumption/high maintenance model.
proton has been sitting on its butts doing nothing, even the facelifts or updates pun take 1000s of years, geely is not paying enough attention on proton, the proton ceo needs to be sacked …
Finally admitting Chery’s quality is better than Potong
National car should sell all below 100k. Proton for malaysia n rakyat should benefit on this. Why need to proton need profit from rakyat. Chinese company their strategy, they will lost money first to play the game or maybe gain low profit from volume sales
People here commenting like they’re forced to buy a proton. Why so much hates is beyond my comprehension.