KUALA LUMPUR (Sept 9): Proton Holdings Bhd has announced the start of operations for the assembly of its own completely-knocked-down (CKD) Proton Saga in Egypt to expand its international footprint, which the national automaker envisioned would pave the way for Egypt to become its export hub for the North African markets.

“Locally assembling the Proton Saga in Egypt allows the company to meet the aim of the Egyptian government to limit the number of CBU (completely-built-up) imports into the country while also encouraging local assembly activities.

“This in turn creates the potential for greater future capacity expansion in the country, especially after we launch new models, with the aim to make Egypt the hub for Proton vehicle exports in the North African region,” said Proton’s director of international sales Steven Xu in a statement.

The CKD operations in Egypt — in partnership with Ezz Elarab Elsewedy Automotive Factories — is expected to start in December this year. Proton announced the start of the CKD operations during a flag-off of 120 units of left-hand drive Proton Saga CKD packs to Egypt from the group's centre of excellence in Shah Alam.

Once operational, the CKD operations in Egypt will be Proton’s fifth foreign assembly operation for both CKD and semi-knocked-down (SKD) models.

Proton has exported nearly 17,000 CBUs to Egypt since 2004, when it entered the Egyptian market with Ezz Elarab. The automaker majority-owned by DRB-Hicom Bhd (KL:DRBHCOM) forecasts to ship over 1,400 CBU units to Egypt this year. With the local assembly expected to kick off in December, the targeted volume for 2025 is expected to grow to 5,000 units of Proton Saga, said Proton.

The CKD operations in Egypt are expected to earn Proton RM570 million in revenue for the first three years up to the end of 2026, not including a further RM20 million projected from parts exports, the group said.

As of August 2024, Proton sold 101,489 units of cars, domestically and abroad. In 2023, the group sold 154,611 units, maintaining its second position in the total industry volume rank in the automotive market after Perusahaan Otomobil Kedua Sdn Bhd.

In terms of exports, Proton claims it is the largest exporter of automobiles from Malaysia, with exports making up 3% of its total volume.

“Export sales are an important area of focus for Proton in our efforts to achieve our long-term goals. As the Malaysian automotive market reaches a natural saturation point, future volume growth potential will come from overseas markets where consumer demand is expected to be on an upward trend in the future,” said Proton’s deputy chief executive officer Roslan Abdullah.