Geely committed to groom Proton to overtake old partner Mitsubishi in ASEAN, Perodua in Malaysia

It has been slightly over four years since Proton’s partnership with Geely was forged and Geely has recently reiterated their commitment for Proton to be top-3 in the ASEAN region, behind Honda and Toyota.

By capturing third place in the ASEAN region means that Proton would have to unseat Mitsubishi – their old partner. Mitsubishi is currently third place in the ASEAN region, behind Honda and Toyota.

Ever since Geely became Proton’s foreign strategic partner, Proton has improved leaps and bounds. Kick-starting Proton’s revival is the introduction of the Proton X70 and Proton X50, as well as a host of Geely-enhanced Proton models.

Back in 2017, Proton’s cumulative sales for that year stood at 70,991 units and captured a 13.8% market share in the process. Today, Proton’s year-to-date (YTD) sales is 86,739 units, capturing a 22.7% market share. Mind you, that’s an impressive achievement, considering that the Covid-19 pandemic wreaked havoc on the automotive industry.

As of September 2021, Proton has dethroned Toyota and Honda to claim second spot in terms of sales, with 10,247 units sold; top spot is Perodua with 14,160. The gap between Proton and Perodua is definitely shrinking.

But don’t for one moment think that Proton is satisfied with second place. Nope, they’re eyeing the top spot, a spot that Perodua took from Proton way back in 2006 and held on to ever since.