Proton Holdings (Proton) has formed a new wholly owned subsidiary called Proton International Corporation (PICSB), which will be in charge of the carmaker’s overseas expansion, with the objective of providing more flexibility when dealing with international markets.
The new company is led by CEO Edmund Lim Meng Thong, who was formerly the director of Proton’s international sales division. In an official release, Proton revealed PICSB is tasked with expanding the carmaker’s export footprint to the Global South while also overseeing and developing sales and marketing initiatives in existing overseas markets. The long-term plan is for a tenfold increase in export volumes over the next five years.
At present, Proton’s top three export models since 2020 are the Saga with 10,998 units, followed by the X50 with 3,986 units and the X70 with 3,316 units. The brand’s first electric vehicle (EV), the eMas 7, has also been gaining ground by being its third most exported model this year.
Proton noted that a total of 233 units of the eMas 7 have been delivered overseas since exports began to Nepal as well as Trinidad & Tobago. As of the end of May this year, 3,632 units of the EV have been sold, with 916 units recorded in May 2025 alone – these figures combine domestic and export sales.
So far in 2025, Proton has launched the locally assembled Saga in Egypt in February, with Nepal welcoming the eMas 7 a month later followed by Trinidad & Tobago in June. Singapore also got a preview of the EV in May, marking the brand’s re-entry to the island nation after an absence of over a decade.
PICSB has set a goal of 6,000 export sales this year, with the figure set to double in 2026 and by ten times come 2030. Currently, Proton exports to 19 countries, namely Brunei, Fiji, Papua New Guinea, Trinidad & Tobago, Singapore, Bermuda, Bangladesh, Nepal, Pakistan, Mauritius, Sri Lanka, Egypt, Iraq, Ghana, Angora, Kenya, South Africa, Mozambique and Zimbabwe. Since 2020 till now, the company has exported 20,169 vehicles to become the leading exporter of vehicles from Malaysia.
“The official registration of Proton International Corporation marks a pivotal moment, sharpening our focus and increasing our agility to drive global expansion. We are setting ambitious targets for the next few years and to achieve this, we are actively hiring more talent for our regional sales and marketing teams. We are also excited about the progress made at the Automotive High Tech Valley (AHTV), which will boost our production capability to meet growing international demand” said Edmund Lim, CEO of PICSB.
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At least this is a great and positive move… instead of blaming geely tis geely that, geely is ur savior…. ur partner… just live with it and start progressing and till u finally mature enough to handle it alone… then only u think about kicking others away…
Proton can’t even compete at their home market so why are they being too ambitious to go international. remove the unfair taxing on foreign brands in Malaysia and let Proton & Perodua compete fairly first.
Proton IS competing in the home market, but it is not sustainable since our market is just too small.
You think Perodua goyang kaki ke in the home market? They have the advantage of the partnership with Daihatsu/Perodua, sharing R&D resources and literally selling cars regionally (mainly Daihatsu), only with different badges.
If Proton wants to compete, it needs to do the same thing as Perodua.
Automotive industry is a competition of supply chain efficiency. Proton is responsible for developing new market, product development to match market and final assembly. Proton design works with it’s supply chain to achieve technical and cost targets. So proton needs to hv a strong influence on its supply chain and demand them to be efficient. To be competitive, they should also try to get into other brand supply chain to increase volume and achieve economic of scale. With so many country wants national car, perhaps there is an opening here for proton and it’s supply chain
Hopefully by selling to poorer countries, Proton will have enough revenue to start Research, Design and Build truly Malaysian Cars.
One can hope.
I wish so too, even i been criticizing them… but i dont believe they can.. coz u are right in one point “POOR COUNTRY”, which means u barely gain the profit enough to truly do any good r&d.
I support the others here of following perodua on rebadge solution.
For what i see now, the best time for proton doin self r&d has pass… when they have all resources from the government(people). As long as those on top of the hierarcy still getting high paid with low ideas and capability. They will alway b here…..
Hopefully new saga got geely timing chain engine, malaysia will finally got a proper 4 cylinder timing chain 1.5L sedan under rm50k.