KUALA LUMPUR (Dec 5): Proton Holdings Bhd's sales for November 2023 rose 8.66% year-on-year to 12,296 units in November, pushing the number of vehicles sold year-to-date past 2022's overall figure.

In a statement on Tuesday, the national carmaker attributed the success to its diverse and innovative model line-up, which includes the new Proton S70 launched on Nov 28, with total bookings exceeding 3,000 units. Meanwhile, its X Series sport utility vehicles (SUVs), consisting of the X50, X70, and X90 models, have reached 201,710 units on the road, while the PIES models (Saga, Iriz, Persona and Exora) recorded a growth of 34.3%. 

The company’s year-to-date sales stood at 141,900 units as of end-November, surpassing the full-year sales volume of 141,432 units for 2022. A 12% growth year-on-year brought Proton's market share to 19.7%.

Deputy chief executive officer Roslan Abdullah said, "The ongoing improvements in our after-sales services have strengthened customer confidence, ensuring a smooth ownership journey. We’re confident in delivering a strong finish this year, getting cars into the hands of our customers before the year concludes.”

Separately, Proton is also looking to expand into more export markets in Asean and beyond to grow its export volume, which it has forecast will hit a lofty 250,000 units per annum by 2035.

Roslan said it aims to increase its production volume to 500,000 units by 2035, of which 50% or 250,000 units will be for the export market.

Proton CEO Dr Li Chunrong said that the company’s shareholders, DRB-Hicom Bhd and Zhejiang Geely Holding Group Co Ltd, had shared their desire for Proton to increase its production volume to 500,000 units by 2035. 

Roslan, who is also the CEO of Proton Edar, clarified that the 500,000-unit figure is currently just a “ballpark figure” that Proton had forecast, noting that the company still must conduct further detailed analysis.