Proton to increase car prices after CNY

By BERNAMA | 14 January 2016


PETALING JAYA: National carmaker Proton Holdings Bhd says it may have to increase its car prices after Chinese New Year (CNY) in February with the rising costs of imported parts due to the depreciating ringgit.

"The ringgit level now is lower as compared with a year ago, which has affected our imported parts prices," chief executive officer Datuk Harith Abdullah said after a ceremony marking the appointment of Suzuki dealers as Proton Edar dealers.

At 9 am, the local unit was traded at 4.3930/4000 against the greenback, a far cry from the 3.57 level it was trading the same time last year.

Harith said Proton is trying its best to hold back the increase until CNY to enable its customers to buy new car at current prices.

According to Proton, 20-30 per cent of the parts in its vehicles are imported.

Today's appointment of Suzuki dealers to sell Proton cars followed an agreement by Proton to work with Suzuki six months ago. Twenty five 3S and four 4S Suzuki dealership outlets have now been converted into Proton Edar outlets. These 29 outlets would continue to provide service and repairs for the existing 48,000 Suzuki customers in Malaysia. The new set-up also provides opportunity for the Suzuki dealers to expand their business to include Proton cars.

Harith said Proton is aiming to sell 150,000 cars in 2016, relying on the current line-up and four new models to be launched.

The new models would be introduced quarterly, he added.

"Having attained sales of just slightly above 100,000 vehicles in 2015, this year, will truly be an exciting one for Proton and that is my commitment to our stakeholders," Bernama quoted him as saying.

Proton chairman Tun Dr Mahathir Mohamad said the new models would take the names of existing models to save time in promoting them to the public.

"In the past, Proton put out new models with new names. We spent a lot of time promoting the brand new names without any history to fall back on.

"Like other companies as Toyota and Honda, we have decided to build new cars, but retain the old names," he added.

Last June, Proton signed a memorandum of understanding (MoU) and licensing agreement with Suzuki Japan to form a long-term strategic partnership with the possibility of developing a compact car.

Harith had said at the time that the collaboration would allow Proton access to the models, platforms, powertrain and car technology of Suzuki.

Honda Malaysia has increased its car prices by 2-3 per cent this year, while UMW Toyota Motor has announced that it too will hike the prices of its products by 4-16 per cent this month onward.

Mitsubishi Motors Malaysia has also hinted at a similar move.

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