18-01-2008: Proton targets sales of 50,000 to 60,000 Saga sedan
KUALA LUMPUR : Proton Holdings Bhd targets to sell 50,000 to 60,000 units of the new Proton Saga sedan model in the country, its chairman Datuk Mohammed Azlan Hashim said.
He said the new Saga and the recently-launched Persona models would help to boost Proton’s financial performance this year.
He said the old Saga was the most popular model in the Proton family with 1.2 million units sold, and the new Saga had so far received more than 6,000 bookings even before its official launch on Jan 18.
“It has a better start than the Persona, and we are very encouraged by that,” Azlan said at a press conference after Prime Minister Datuk Seri Abdullah Ahmad Badawi officially launched the new Saga sedan.
Priced between RM31,500 to RM39,998 on-the-road, the new 1.3-litre Saga is available in seven colour variants.
Azlan said the new model had similar values of its predecessor as the car is designed to be an “affordable family-size sedan”.
Besides catering to the local market, Proton wants is to export the new Saga model. “Clearly, we realised the domestic market will not be large enough to offer any manufacturer the economies of scale,” Azlan said.
As such, Proton’s plan was to produce new models that would meet both the local and international markets’ requirements, he added.
Currently, the company is looking at the possibility of exporting cars to countries within Asean, the Middle East and India.
On whether Proton has a timeframe to regain its market leadership position, in the passenger car segment, Azlan said there were no specific deadlines as an “on-going process”.
He also said Proton management was working hard to turn around the company and it was banking on the new Saga and Persona sales to boost its performance.
Proton managing director Datuk Syed Zainal Syed Mohamed Tahir said the company would invest RM400 million to RM500 million every year for research and development to roll out new models as well as to “refresh” old models.
He revealed that Proton had spent about RM460 million to come out with the new Saga model alone and was planning to refresh another two to three models this year.
According to Zainal, one of Proton’s utmost concerns in developing new models was safety.
The new Saga comes with a chassis that is 75% made of high tensile steel, which will provide passengers with a basic protection cage in order to minimise the risk of injury in case of accidents.
He said the new Saga and the recently-launched Persona models would help to boost Proton’s financial performance this year.
He said the old Saga was the most popular model in the Proton family with 1.2 million units sold, and the new Saga had so far received more than 6,000 bookings even before its official launch on Jan 18.
“It has a better start than the Persona, and we are very encouraged by that,” Azlan said at a press conference after Prime Minister Datuk Seri Abdullah Ahmad Badawi officially launched the new Saga sedan.
Priced between RM31,500 to RM39,998 on-the-road, the new 1.3-litre Saga is available in seven colour variants.
Azlan said the new model had similar values of its predecessor as the car is designed to be an “affordable family-size sedan”.
Besides catering to the local market, Proton wants is to export the new Saga model. “Clearly, we realised the domestic market will not be large enough to offer any manufacturer the economies of scale,” Azlan said.
As such, Proton’s plan was to produce new models that would meet both the local and international markets’ requirements, he added.
Currently, the company is looking at the possibility of exporting cars to countries within Asean, the Middle East and India.
On whether Proton has a timeframe to regain its market leadership position, in the passenger car segment, Azlan said there were no specific deadlines as an “on-going process”.
He also said Proton management was working hard to turn around the company and it was banking on the new Saga and Persona sales to boost its performance.
Proton managing director Datuk Syed Zainal Syed Mohamed Tahir said the company would invest RM400 million to RM500 million every year for research and development to roll out new models as well as to “refresh” old models.
He revealed that Proton had spent about RM460 million to come out with the new Saga model alone and was planning to refresh another two to three models this year.
According to Zainal, one of Proton’s utmost concerns in developing new models was safety.
The new Saga comes with a chassis that is 75% made of high tensile steel, which will provide passengers with a basic protection cage in order to minimise the risk of injury in case of accidents.
posted by SEE FU at 8:22 PM
0 Comments:
Post a Comment
<< Home