Survey: Proton only 2nd to Lexus

In January 2006, newly-appointed managing director Syed Zainal Abidin Syed Mohamed Tahir announced that he had put in place several initiatives that will help the Proton to be cost effective, producing high quality products and that he expects that by the end of 2006, Proton will be turnaround and are back to profitability.

Syed Zainal said he believes he will be able to deliver what is expected of him. Going forward, he said Proton would be phasing out its Wira and Iswara models, but he did not say when.

Syed Zainal also announced that Proton will also revisit its plans to penetrate the China market and it will no longer ignore the Indian market. These two markets offer huge growth potential. Since taking the helm, Syed Zainal said he has been busy looking into how to improve the systems and processes at Proton as well as quality and costs.

When Proton rolled out the Waja Campro and Satria Neo models in 2006, there was so much excitement and self-confidence.

The management believed that Proton had finally found the answer for their dismal performance and that they now have the right products that would help them win back all the customers, and they are now ready to prove that they can now return the company back to profitability and growth.

That excitement and self-confidence led the management to declare their KPIs for 2007:

Proton FY 2007 KPI

Market Share 45.8% (FY06: 41.4%)
Export Sales 8.6% (FY: 5.2%)
Revenue Growth 12.4%
EBIT Growth 2.5% (FY06: 0.5%)

However, on 1st June 2007, Proton announced that they had suffered RM591mil losses, revenue had dropped from RM9 billion in 2003. RM7.8b in FY06 to RM4.9 billion for FY07 and car sales was down by 40%. Revenue to not grow by 12.4% as predicted; instead, it shrunk 40%.

Loss per share stood at 107.7sen compared with earnings per hare of 8.4 sen in FY06. Market share dropped drastically instead of growing by 5% as projected.

During the full year, Proton only managed to sell 110,358 cars, which was a 40% drop from 183,824 units sold in FY06. Proton blamed stringent loan application screening and credit squeeze for their dismal performance.

MD Datuk Syed Zainal Abidin Syed Mohamed Tahir said they will focus on operational efficiency, cost competitiveness, introduction of new models and more aggressive marketing campaign to mitigate.

Today, NST reported that Proton is vrooming again as they had found the answer - the latest Sedan.

Enthusiasm and gushing reviews by industry insiders seems to indicate a turning point for Proton.

They declared: Proton is bringing back smiles to the faces...

Managing Director Syed Zainal sai he is pleased with the outcome.

He is positive and confident again that the sedan will take the market by storm. (Remarks: If the sedan is this one on the left, I too am confident; but it's not, my dear!)


PEDA president Wan Ahmad said this sedan is the best car ever made by Protonand looks stunning and spectacular.

"The new car herald a new era for Proton," Wan Ahmad said.

Syed Zainal said Proton had reduced their cost of spare parts and are now cost competitive. On the international front, they expects to sell 30,000 cars to China. It was also reported that Proton had also penetrated the Indonesian market.


In the UK, their dealers were said to have scored great results in a survey undertaken by a Magazine but don't know which Magazine.

It was reported that in the survey over 93,360 car owners, Proton beat Honda Toyota, BMW and Kia and only lost to Lexus.

"Proton is now well known when it comes to quality", it was reported in the survey.

Congratulations to Proton! Malaysia finally BOLEH!!!