PUTRAJAYA (June 8): National carmaker Proton Holdings Bhd’s sales in its domestic and export markets rose 40.9% in May 2023 to 13,268 units month-on-month.

The performance followed a slow start to the second quarter of the year due to the Malaysian automotive market being affected by the festive period and the ending of deliveries for tax-exempted cars in March, it said in a statement on Thursday (June 8).

“Sales for the first five months of the year stood at 62,970 units, a year-on-year (y-o-y) increase of 38.9%, the highest in the Malaysian automotive sales table.

“Meanwhile, the total industry volume is estimated to have rebounded by 32.2% to 61,600 units in May,” it said, adding that Proton’s market share stood at 21.5% for the month.

In May, the carmaker also ventured into a new export market, Mozambique, its first new market for 2023 and 12th overall, offering the X70 and X50 models.

“Aside from entering a new market, May was also the best month for export sales year-to-date, with 217 units sold, led by the Proton Saga.

“As for overall sales, Proton Saga retained its position as the best-selling model with 5,819 units sold in May, placing it second overall for the A-segment sedan with 27,214 units sold so far, a remarkable increase of 51% y-o-y,” it said.

The carmaker said that three models, namely the X50, Persona and Exora, led overall segment sales in May.

It said the X50 continued to lead the B-segment and overall sport utility vehicle (SUV) sales with 2,801 units sold, while the Persona model remained the overall leader for the B-segment sedan in the year so far, despite finishing second with 2,290 units sold in the month.

“Proton Exora achieved 440 sales to stay atop the C-segment MPV market,” it said.

Proton said year-to-date sales growth for the three segment leaders was 31% for the X50 model, 78% for the Persona and 39% for the Exora, proving that demand for its models remained strong despite competition from newer rivals.

“929 units of the X70 model were sold in May while the all-new X90 ended its first three weeks of going on sale with 257 units sold, placing it second in the D-segment SUV market,” it said.

Proton deputy chief executive officer Roslan Abdullah said demand for the X90 model has been strong as customers take advantage of its early bird package that offered accessories.

“The company will also have more new product launches and introduce updates to our existing range while making our debut in the electric vehicle market via our subsidiary Pro-Net, [with] a lot of activities on the horizon for the rest of 2023,” he added.