Buoyed by Saga and X70, Proton's March 2022 sales surpasses 13k units, 41% up from Feb

• Saga, X70, X50 round off top three sales
• Pakistan is biggest export market
• 41% better sales than last month

National car maker Proton ended a challenging first quarter of 2022 with reduced sales as a combination of flood affected local vendors, disruptions to logistics and a chip shortage conspired against their efforts.

The situation is improving and the outlook for the second quarter is positive but the overall sales numbers for the first three months of the year reflect the challenges the company faced.

For March, Proton's sales continued their recovery with 13,028 units sold (domestic + export), an increase of 41.2% over the previous month and equivalent to a forecast market share of 19%.

For the quarter, cumulative sales from January to March closed at 26,706 units with a cumulative market share of 17.5%, good enough to be ranked second in the overall table despite a reduction in sales of 18.6% and a 5.7% contraction in market share compared to Q1 2021.  

March volume punctuated by new milestones 

While total sales for March were down by 13% compared to the same month in 2021, Proton still posted some noteworthy results. Sales of the Proton Saga, a model that was severely affected in January, hit 6,422 units in March, its best effort since November 2013. This not only made the Saga the sales leader for A-segment sedans but also the best-selling A-segment model overall.

Helping to power the Saga’s numbers was a growth in export sales. With a total of 794 units (comprised of various models) exported in March, the company achieved its highest export sales figure in 108 months.

Pakistan was by far the biggest export market, accounting for 690 units while overall Q1 export volume totalled 1,117 units, an increase of 175% over the same quarter last year.

Also read: Proton's February 2022 sales grew by 107%, X50 gets over 100k bookings since launch

As for the other models, the Proton X70, Proton X50 and Proton Exora retained leadership in their respective segments with sales of 2,320 units, 1,573 units and 536 units.

The Proton Persona and Proton Iriz meanwhile finished third and fourth in their segments as stiff competition and parts shortages continued to affect sales.

Also read: Review: 2020 Proton X50 - all the pros and flaws about Malaysia's most-hyped SUV!

“The first three months of 2022 has been tough for Proton and our customers. Production issues continue to suppress our true potential and as a result, created a long waiting list for our cars. Our parts supply and hence, production volumes, began to stabilise in March but we’re expecting a few more disruptions in the coming months as other industries ramp up their production.

“For the rest of the year however, Proton is still aiming to hit our targets as we work closely with our vendors  and dealers to smooth out supply lines to deliver cars to our customers. We are also making progress with sorting out our after sales issues and therefore, the company is confident it can rebound strongly over the next quarter,” said Roslan Abdullah, Chief Executive Officer, Proton Edar.

Also read: To ease after-sales woes, 3 months stock of 22 parts a must at all Proton dealers