KUALA LUMPUR (June 10): Proton Holdings Bhd's (Proton) first sport utility vehicle (SUV), the Proton X70, helped push the national car maker's sales to its highest in 46 months in May, with 10,611 units sold – up 51.3% over April.

This helped push overall sales for the first five months of 2019 to grow over 70% compared with the same period in 2018.

In a statement today, Proton said its market share for May stood at 17.2%.

"With nearly 4,000 total units sold, the cumulative sales figure for the recently launched models is at an impressive 36% of Proton’s overall sales and more importantly, with over 10,000 bookings received thus far, there is a healthy order book to fulfil over the coming months," it added.

Proton said the biggest contributor was the Proton X70. A total of 2,439 units were sold in May and cumulatively 13,572 have been delivered in the first five months of the year, meaning the Proton X70 remains as the SUV market leader in overall sales.

The 2019 Proton Persona ended the month with 2,972 sales, while 940 units of Iriz were sold.

"Aside from the three models with intelligent features, another model showing a strong resurgence in sales is the Proton Saga. A mainstay in the company’s range for 34 years, sales surpassed 3,000 units for the second month in a row.

"By selling 3,610 units in May, sales of the Saga have grown by 41% overall in the first five months of the year, signalling a strong positive trend for the model as it heads for a major update in the second half of the year," said Proton.

Proton chief executive officer Dr Li Chunrong said the company is hopeful of finishing second overall in total sales for a second consecutive month when overall industry sales figures are revealed by the Malaysian Automotive Association.

"We are confident of being able to maintain our strong sales performance for the rest of the year,” he added.

He said Proton’s strategy for the remainder of the year is to continue to grow our sales by introducing improvements to our current model range and improving our brand experience by opening more 3S/4S outlets as these efforts have obtained positive feedback from our customers.

"These efforts will help ensure Proton’s brand image is improved as we continue to redefine our brand values in preparation for the introduction of yet more models that are jointly developed with Geely in the future,” noted Li.

Proton is 50.1% owned by DRB-Hicom Bhd, while the remaining 49.9% stake is held by China's Zhejiang Geely Group Holding Co.