Proton has just posted its best sales performance since 2013 with 141,432 units sold in 2022. This makes it the fourth consecutive year that Malaysia’s first carmaker saw sales growth.

However, despite the pair of Proton SUVs getting all the attention, the best-selling Proton car is a lot humbler and basic.

55,878 units of the Saga were sold in 2022 and the total figure includes both domestic and export numbers. This was an increase of 31.1% over the previous year and yet, it only achieved second in the A-segment sedan market.

It’s remarkable for the Saga to achieve this many units considering things were actually bleak for the most affordable Proton at the beginning of 2022. It was the model that was most affected by the late 2021 floods which resulted in only 76 units sold in January 2022.

Also read: Proton sales in Jan 2022 down 25.3%; over 1,200 flood-damaged cars received

Besides domestically, the Saga is also Proton’s best-selling car in the export market with 2,408 units sold in 2022. The Saga is also sold in countries like Pakistan, Egypt, and Kenya.

Also read: Proton ends 2021 with 115k cars sold, increase for the third year in a row

Taking second place behind the Saga with 40,681 units sold is the Proton X50. Out of these figures, 1,117 units of the X50 were exported overseas and it has seen a jump of 277% in export sales in 2022.

Back home, the X50 maintained its position as Malaysia’s best-selling B-segment SUV as well as the country’s best-selling SUV overall.

Also read: Proton ships its 1,000th unit to South Africa just 2 months after reentering market

In third is the X50’s bigger brother, the Proton X70 which saw 18,533 units sold in 2022. It achieved the title of Malaysia’s most popular C-segment SUV which it had held for 4 consecutive years.

Overseas, the X70 also received a massive jump in sales with 1,708 units sold in 2022, a 101% sales increase compared to 2021.

Also read: Believe it or not, but the Proton X70 is based on the older Toyota RAV4

The fourth and fifth best-selling Proton models of 2022 belong to the Proton Persona and Proton Iriz with 16,357 units and 5,708 units respectively. The Persona managed to be the third best-selling B-segment sedan in Malaysia while its sales saw a small growth of 1.3% compared to 2021.

Also read: Review: 2022 Proton Persona facelift – Is the jerky CVT finally fixed?

It isn’t as rosy for the Iriz though as the hatchback only managed to take the fourth spot in the B-segment hatchback market. Proton's Myvi rival also suffered a sales decline of 14.9% in 2022 and was the only Proton model to not receive sales growth in 2022.

Also read: The curse of Proton’s tiny hatchback trio – Why are the Tiara, Savvy and Iriz slow sellers?

Perhaps the most surprising figure is that of the Proton Exora. While the ageing MPV sits at the sixth and final spot among Proton’s 6-vehicle line-up with 4,275 units sold in 2022, it also achieved a 5.9% sales increase compared to last year.

For 2023, Proton has stated that it is confident of achieving more growth with new models to be added to the range. We might see the introduction of the Proton X90 3-row SUV that was spotted on Malaysian roads recently along with the Proton S50 sedan.

Also read: Proton X90 nears production version, RHD mule with 'Infinite Weave' grille spotted