Proton is aiming to sell 4,000 units of its B-segment Proton X50 for 2020. The vehicle is yet to be launched and but bookings are now opened.

The target set is rather conservative. Assuming that the model is launched in October, that gives Proton about 3 months to meet its 4,000 units target, which translates into an average monthly sales of around 1,330 units.

For comparison, sales of the Proton X70 (locally-assembled CKD model) averaged around 1,800 units/month, with 12,732 units delivered as of August 2020, since its local launch on 12-February.

Speaking at a press conference on Tuesday’s preview of the Proton X50, Roslan Abdullah, CEO of Proton’s retail sales arm Proton Edar, added that while the sales target set for the rest of the year is 4,000 units, the company is able to cope with higher demand as its Tanjung Malim plant can produce up to 8,000 units of the X50 until the end of this year.

As for exports, Roslan explained that Proton’s immediate focus for the X50 is to fulfill domestic demand first. Exports are in the plans but it will only be considered after domestic demand stabilizes (spike in demand is to be expected in the initial months following a new model’s launch).

He added that the soonest that exports of the Proton X50 can commence is in end-2021. For now, Proton’s export plans is (mostly) focused on the X70, which was recently launched in Brunei and Bangladesh.