KUALA LUMPUR (July 18): As Proton Holdings Bhd celebrates its 35th anniversary, the national carmaker is making a comeback into the automotive scene. Three years after the company was partially sold to Zhejiang Geely Holding Group Co Ltd back in June 2017, its sales are growing, led by the X70 and Saga.

But competition in the automotive industry is stiff, especially now that new technologies are being developed and implemented at a breakneck pace. Carmakers are competing against each other with their offerings of models packed with technologies.

What about Proton? For most of the last 10 years — at least — the national carmaker has been struggling with quality issues and decreasing sales. Its brand image suffered and many Malaysians made the switch to Perusahaan Otomobil Kedua Sdn Bhd (Perodua) and non-national marques.

But with Dr Li Chunrong at the helm, he has altered Proton's course. In the past three years, the company has been coming up with good products and services. Since becoming its CEO in October 2017, Li has persuaded vendors to reduce costs, improve quality and get Proton’s showrooms upgraded.

As a result, Proton saw sales improve last year, driven by the launch of the X70 SUV in December 2018. The basic models Saga, Persona, Iriz and Exora are also upgraded through collaboration between Proton’s designers and other engineers and designers from within Geely group.

Now that Proton is on a firmer footing, how will Li take the group forward? The export market is definitely on the list of plans for the company, but is Proton ready to reintroduce its products abroad?

What about new technologies such as autonomous vehicles, new energy engines, and connectivity? Proton needs these technologies to ensure that their models are competitive on a global standard, and they can be supplied by Geely and its group of companies.

But do they make commercial sense, especially if no government incentives are available for them to do so?

There is also the question of whether Proton can develop its own models and not depend on Geely’s model platforms forever. This is on Li’s playbook for Proton, but past experience shows that developing platforms and models are costly and difficult to succeed.

Which direction will Proton take as it re-emerges as a real contender in the automotive arena? Get the full story in this week’s issue of The Edge.

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