Proton to Saga

PROTON BACKGROUND

Proton actually comes from Perusahaan Otomobile Malaysia which translate to National Automobile Enterprise in Malaysian. Proton is a Malaysian car manufacturer which first started out in 1983, following the wishes of former Prime Minister Tun Mahathir Mohamad. At first, parts and technology came from Mitsubishi but later on after experience accumulated, Proton became independent even if most of the cars were still based on Mitsubishi models.

Their first model was launched in 1985 which called the Proton Saga. Soon after the first Sagas were rolling on Malaysian streets, Proton started to exports its car to Bangladesh in 1986 and Proton had already made 50,000 units approximately in 1987.  A new model, the Proton Iswara was launched in 1992 and then followed Wira in 1993. This model based on the Mitsubishi Colt which enjoyed moderate success with 220,000 units sold over 2 years. In 1995, the Proton Satria joined the model line-up and then in 1996 the Proton Tiara was launched.

Furthermore, with thousands of models sold both domestically and internationally in about 31 countries around the world, Proton was gaining in financial power which enabled it to purchase Lotus technologies in 1996 which earned a much technological infusion. Then, new sports model car will emerge from this partnership, the Proton ultimate and announced for the first time in 2001.

Another partnership was announced in 2004 with Volkswagen AG where the Malaysian manufacturer would gain access to German technology and in return it would offer its facilities for foreign car manufacturing. However, this plan fell through by 2006, when Volkswagen announced the two companies would go their separate ways because they could not agree on the terms. At the same year, Proton suffered a massive drop in sales which caused a loss in profit. This was the basis of the rumor that Volkswagen was actually interested in purchasing 51% of the company. Interestingly enough, just by announcing that Proton would try to get out of the crisis alone, the company's stock dropped overnight to an all-time low.

Moreover, The Proton Exora is a compact MPV became Malaysia's first home-grown MPV upon its release on 15 April 2009. The Proton Iriz, which is known as the Proton Global Small Car (GSC) and the Proton Compact Car (PCC) by its internal codename is a five-door supermini in development by Proton. It was launched on 25 September 2014 and founding father as the spiritual successor to the Proton Savvy.

ISSUE

Sales of Proton Declined

DRB group state that annual report recently was realistic in recognizing that there is a many issue faced about Proton. Tan Sri Mohd khamil Jamil as DRB Group Managing Director state that Proton cars have lost their appeal and causing Proton cars to lose its number 1 position in the industry as its market share fell from 60% in the 1990s to 20%-22% currently. He adding that DRB targets to produce 500,000 Proton cars annually, over the next five years.