Closing strong in October, national carmaker Proton is inching closer to a fifth consecutive year of sales growth with just two months to go in 2023.

The company sold 12,772 units in October to bring its year-to-date (YTD) figure to 129,604 units (domestic and export) for the first 10 months of 2023, equivalent to a 12.3 percent increase over the same period in 2022.

Also read: Proton sales drops for September 2023 but most models remain among segment leaders

Compared to the previous month, sales in October grew by 4.4 percent as total industry volume (TIV) is forecast to have exceeded the 70,000 unit barrier for the third time in 2023. Proton’s overall market share is estimated to be 20.1 percent of TIV, which has exceeded 645,000 units; on track to break the all-time record set in 2022.

Three out of seven Proton models continue to be sales leaders in their respective market segments in October 2023 - namely the X50 (2,021 units), X90 (479 units) and recently discontinued Exora (393 units) in the C-Segment MPV category.

Also read: Proton Exora records impressive 11.5% sales surge in its final year, bids farewell after nearly 200k units

The company’s most popular model remains the Proton Saga and in October, with 6,322 units sold in October, YTD sales totalled 57,806 units, surpassing the total volume from the whole of 2022 with two months to spare.

Elsewhere, Proton X70 is also performing steadily and with 927 units sold in October, it managed an increase of 18.9 percent over the previous month. Both Proton's B-Segment offerings, the Iriz and Persona continue to track steadily with 589 units and 2,041 units sold in October.

Also read: Proton X90 debuts in 3 markets, Mauritius, South Africa and Brunei, export sales grows by 79 % for 2022

With overall volume growth estimated to reach 12.3 percent in 2023, Proton could well see approximately 158,000 unit sales by the end of the year. This is how the model sales rank so far in 2023:

Roslan Abdullah, Chief Executive Officer, Proton Edar added, “Proton has benefited from these market conditions and as our sales have gone up by 12.3 percent this year, we continue to outpace TIV growth. This is despite some of the recent challenges faced, which were countered by quick and decisive action taken by the company. Heading into the final two months of 2023, we are optimistic of exceeding our targets as we prepare to introduce more new models to position the company for a great start to 2024."