• Proton X70 SUV signals start of PROTON’s complete revival
  • PROTON to benefit from Geely’s investment, technology and talent

 

12 December 2018, Kuala Lumpur. PROTON, the leading automotive brand in Malaysia, has launched its flagship SUV, the Proton X70, at an official launch event in Kuala Lumpur. The X70 SUV is the first vehicle released as a result of the collaboration between Geely Auto and PROTON since Zhejiang Geely Holding Group (“Geely Holding”) became the minority shareholder in the Malaysian car brand.

On June 23rd 2017, Geely Holding formally signed a definitive agreement with PROTON’s owner, DRB-HICOM, to take up a 49.9% stake in PROTON. This was followed by the creation of a joint Chinese-Malaysian Board of Directors under the leadership of Chairman, Dato Sri’ Syed Faisal Albar.

Under the agreement, Geely Holding and DRB-HICOM are committed to the full revitalisation of PROTON, with the vision of building on its 30-year old heritage and make it the best-selling Malaysian automotive brand, as well as a leading name in ASEAN.

As part of the revival plan, PROTON will benefit heavily from Geely Holding’s technology and enable them to develop their own automotive expertise for the Malaysian and ASEAN markets. PROTON’s industrial footprint will also witness a major upgrade as they benefit from Geely Holding’s engineering technology.

Since the agreement was signed last year, PROTON has seen a number of enhancements in its products and services, including upgrades to its dealership network with over one hundred Proton dealers receiving major upgrades to further PROTON’s service capacity.

PROTON has also resumed export sales in October 2018 with a major delivery of PROTON vehicles to Egypt with further expansion of overseas markets planed for 2019.

 

Proton X70 Arrives

The Proton X70 is based on the best-selling Geely Bo Yue SUV that has become renowned for its connectivity, driving style, economy and value proposition. Since the Bo Yue was launched in mid-2016, the model has sold over 650,000 units, with average monthly sales reaching over 20,000 units.

Even though based on the Geely Bo Yue, PROTON has made substantial changes to the Proton X70 for its Malaysian release such as the exterior grille, which is inspired by a traditional Malaysian bow. The interior has also seen some changes as the Infinite Weave pattern has been incorporated into the speaker grille and the insert backing the door handles. According to the Head of PROTON Design, Azlan Othman, “We have made the Proton X70 our own with the addition of subtle Malaysian hints, thus giving Malaysia its first ever domestic SUV.

Since its first public unveiling at the Kuala Lumpur International Motor Show 2018, the Proton X70 has received over 10,000 pre-orders via the PROTON website. This proves that the SUV has increase the public’s confidence in the strength of the Malaysian car maker.

Dr. Li Chunrong, Chief Executive Officer of PROTON, said, “Our partnership with Geely is already bearing fruit. In such a short time, we have released the first Malaysian SUV to the market and received over 10,000 pre-orders. The Proton X70 is key to the first step in PROTON’s complete revival and brand upgrade”.