The order book for Proton Holdings Bhd’s MPV model, the Exora, is strong at the moment with a backlog of up to three to four months even at a production rate of 3,300 units per month.
Managing director Datuk Syed Zainal Abidin Syed Mohamed said he thought there was more stability in its distribution.
“Of course it is supported by the Exora … we are very thankful for the support of the Malaysian public,” he told reporters at Invest Malaysia 2009 yesterday.
“So, going forward, as long as we can maintain a very healthy order bank (or book) and continue with what we are doing, such as the cost measures, for example, I think the company will be in a better position.”
Referring to Proton’s recent Master Dealership Agreement with Edaran Otomobil Nasional Bhd, which was announced on May 8, Syed Zainal said: “By controlling the dealers, we will make the dealers more efficient.
“From an efficiency point of view, our distribution system will be much better, which means maybe margins can be improved and revenue further enhanced.”
He added: “These are the opportunities that we can look forward to, at least for this financial year (ending March 31, 2010).”
However, it was still too early to say if the national carmaker would return to the black this year, he said, adding: “The only thing I can say is that it (the first quarter ended June 30) will be an improvement over the last quarter.”
At present, there were 5,000 Exora MPVs registered in the market with pending orders for about 14,000 vehicles.
On expected developments in new variants of Exora models, he said that having first introduced the automatic model of the MPV to the market, “it was only a matter of time” before Proton introduced a manual model.
He said the manual model could be expected this year.
Proton was also planning to launch the Exora in Jakarta on July 24 at the International Motor Show.
This was an important move for the company, because in the 1½ to two years it had been in the country it only had a small presence in the Indonesian market dominated by MPVs, Syed Zainal said.
On foreign competition to Proton, both locally and overseas, he said: “I think competition is healthy. We have to strategise our plans and others – Toyota and Nissan – would also strategise their plans.
“So, it is something I think we should not be totally worried about.”
This year Proton will focus mainly on the Asean market, including “Singapore,” soon.
Next year, the company will focus on other markets, like the Middle East, and also try to do the CKD (completely knocked-down) assembly in China and other markets.
Apart from Indonesia, the company plans to introduce the Exora to Thailand in November.
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