KUALA LUMPUR (Sept 2): Proton Holdings Bhd notched its best sales month in August 2022 since July 2013.

In a statement on Friday (Sept 2), the national car maker said that for the first eight months of the year, it has registered 87,481 units compared to 62,637 units in 2021, which is an increase of 39.7%.

With regard to the national automotive sales table, Proton said it retains second position and achieved an estimated market share of 23.7% for August while year-to-date (YTD) market share climbed to 19.5%.

It said the estimated total industry volume (TIV) for the month is 66,900 units (36.7% more than July) as automotive brands continued to deliver units to customers who placed bookings during the sales and service tax (SST) incentive period.

Proton said despite the recent launch of new direct rivals from other brands, its position at the top of the SUV segment remains unchallenged.

It said the Proton X50 reached a third consecutive month where deliveries crossed the 4,000-unit threshold with 4,329 units delivered in August.

The Proton X70 backed up the performance with 1,555 units, retaining its position as sales leader for C-segment SUVs and pushing total SUV sales in August for Proton to 5,884 units.

Total sales of Proton SUVs now stand at 37,489 units for the first eight months of 2022, it said.

Proton deputy chief executive Roslan Abdullah said with four months to go in 2022, the carmaker’s production operations have stabilised.

“Critically, our component supply is now more consistent and better managed to ensure we can produce as many cars as possible.

“With that in mind, we have undertaken an initiative to increase the number of delivery trucks by over 100% by the end of the year,” he said.