KUALA LUMPUR (April 2): Proton Holdings Bhd sold 14,898 cars in March this year, its best sales month since September 2013.

In a statement today, Proton said the March figure, comprising domestic and export sales, was a 26.2% month-on-month increase from February, translating into a market share of 23.5%.

Overall, Proton said it retained its second position in the sales rankings table.

The national carmaker said that for the first quarter of the year, the company achieved a cumulative sales total of 32,826 units and its highest quarterly market share figure since March 2012.

Proton said deliveries of its two sport utility vehicle (SUV) models continued to grow in March as the company’s new production line in Tanjung Malim increased its output for the month. 3,513 units of the Proton X50 were delivered to customers, while the Proton X70 saw a month-on-month increase of 58.4% to 2,337 units.

The company said that when combined, it was another internal record with 5,850 SUVs delivered, beating the previous record of 4,820 units set just last month.

The company’s top seller remained the Proton Saga and with 5,589 units delivered, sales for the A-segment sedan grew by 32.5% compared to February.

The Proton Persona, Iriz and Exora also posted their best figures for the year with the evergreen multipurpose vehicle (MPV) once again claiming the crown for highest C-segment MPV sales.

Proton Edar chief executive officer (CEO) Roslan Abdullah said after a soft start to the year, Malaysia’s automotive industry finally hit its stride in 2021.

“We estimate total industry volume to be over 63,000 units, suggesting all brands will post their best numbers for the year.

“For Proton, March was a very good sales month as we achieved our highest figure in 90 months, but our sense of achievement is tempered by the fact that it could have been even better if we were able to produce more units,”he said.

Roslan said as the company still had a large order bank to fulfil over the next few months, Proton will strive to increase production while maintaining its focus on delivering high-quality products.

“We are also mindful that PENJANA incentives are currently due to expire by end-June, so we aim to ensure as many customers as possible are able to enjoy the tax holiday given by the government.”

Meanwhile, Proton said its in-house auto-financing subsidiary, Proton Commerce Sdn Bhd, had seen a similar increase in volume for financing of cars.

It said nearly 4,000 loans were disbursed in the first three months of 2021, with an estimated 1,700 going out in March alone.

Proton said the latter figure is equivalent to a 122% growth over February and overall, disbursements for the first quarter of the year were up by 141% over 2020.