Malaysian Sales Slump as Proton Shuffles Management

Malaysian new-vehicle sales plunged 24.8% in February to 37,876 units with the industry citing a shorter working week and tight bank loan requirements for the drop.

Malaysian Automotive Assn. data shows car sales dived 24.1% from like-2015 to 34,126 units, while light-commercial-truck deliveries dropped 30.9% to 3,750.

The result left year-to-date LV sales off 18.3% at 82,467 units.

The MAA says it expects March sales to top February levels because of a longer working month and automakers’ promotional campaigns.

Malaysian manufacturers cut back on their output as sales fell.

The MAA says the vehicle build dropped 25.2% to 35,130 units with car production down 23.9% at 33,480 and CV output off 43.8% at 1,650.

Two months into 2016, the industry build was down 21.1% at 81,781 units, with car assemblies down 21% at 76,178 and the CV result off 22.2% at 5,603.

Market analyst Paul Tan reports market leader Perodua fared relatively well in the February sales slump, falling just 9.8% to 14,014 units. Rival Proton, which boosted its prices in February, fell 23.2% to 5,942 units and almost lost second place, topping Honda by just 177 deliveries.

Tan says Proton will come under new leadership April 1 with Ahmad Fuaad bin Kenali moving in as CEO after serving as chief financial officer at parent company DRB-Hicom.

Radzaif bin Mohamed, DRB-Hicom chief operations officer in charge of automotive distribution and manufacturing, moves becomes Proton’s deputy CEO. Incumbent CEO Abdul Harith Abdullah takes Radzaif’s current job.

The changes come after the automaker announced it was coming into its new era after 30 years of learning and acquisition of technologies.

“The company is aware of the dwindling sales figures and smaller market share while it strives to do its best to improve market perception of the brand,” it says in a statement.

“In view of the situation, Proton takes a bold step to retransform/rebrand as a step to break itself away from unfavorable market perception. The exercise will also see a fresher look given to its existing corporate logo and whole new experience to Proton customers.”

In the statement Harith says Proton is acting to remain relevant to Malaysians.

“And this initiative doesn't just involve a simple change of the logo. This time, I am making a promise that our focus is on our customers.

“We have not been meeting customers' expectations in the way we deal with our customers and the management of Proton is working hard to go to the grounds to monitor what our employees are doing.”

The Proton situation was discussed in the Dewan Rakyat, the Malaysian parliament, with the Ministry of International Trade and Industry saying Proton is undertaking several phased initiatives under a 5-year business plan to face the uncertain economy.

“To ramp up sales, Proton plans to introduce several new models such as the Perdana, Persona and Saga this year,” the ministry says. “At the same, through cooperation with Japanese vehicle manufacturer Suzuki, the company also plans to introduce new models for the domestic as well as regional markets.”