It's a slight downward trend for Proton due to a lack of stock

Proton closed off 2021 with its highest annual sales figure since 2014, but the start of 2022 was a bit underwhelming for a number of reasons. That massive flash flood affected a lot of different folks in many ways, and those looking for a new car are left waiting due to limited stock.

With all the things that happened, Proton only recorded a total sales of 4,453 units last month (January 2022, import & export), which is a significant decrease of 25.3% compared to the same month in 2021. The estimated domestic market share is equivalent to around 11.3%. It seems that the parts supply issues are worse than initially anticipated.

Proton stated that while their production facilities in Shah Alam and Tanjung Malim were fortunately safe from the rising waters during the flashflood, many of the company's parts supply vendors who are based in and around Shah Alam were not quite so lucky. This affected their production, which causes a shortage of units being rolled out from the factory and created a gap between supply and demand.

According to Roslan Abdullah, CEO of Proton Edar, "After a successful end to 2021, January was a very tough month for Proton. Our short supply situation became magnified by the lack of units being produced, creating a severe shortage for our dealers. Thankfully, production for all our models resumed in January, though some required more time than others. We are, however, confident of meeting our targets for 2022 based on market projections as well as our sales and marketing plans for the rest of the year."

Proton also stated that over 1,200 customer vehicles were affected by the flood that was sent to their authorised service centres. Roslan added that "Proton would like to remind all customers with flood-damaged cars to send their vehicles to our network of authorised service centres to enjoy benefits such as free towing and car wash services as well as discounted parts and labour charges. We are also thankful to the government for the RM1,000 assistance voucher, which has proven to be invaluable for many of our customers."