Proton takes 74.5% of the local market

Proton takes 74.5% of the local market

KUALA LUMPUR (AFP): Malaysia's national car Proton has raised
its share of the domestic car market to 74.5 percent in the first
six months of the year as an upbeat automobile industry saw
overall sales rising 5.8 percent.

Proton sold 44,949 cars to once again take command of the
market, with Japanese make Honda coming second with 4,843 units
or eight percent, tailed by Nissan with 2,360 units or 3.9
percent and Toyota's 2,242 units or 3.7 percent.

Proton, which increased its sales by eight percent during the
period, had cornered 72.6 percent of the local car market in the
previous corresponding period.

In the half year to June, Ford took fifth spot with 1.6
percent, Volvo 1.4 percent, Mercedes Benz 1.3 percent, Peugeot
1.2 percent, Citroen 1.1 percent and Daihatsu one percent,
according to figures released by the Malaysia Motor Traders
Association (MMTA) Saturday.

"We are confident that our forecast for a 10 percent growth
this year is achievable, MMTA chairman Aishah Ahmad said.

Total sales of motor vehicles increased 5.8 percent to 77,641
units from 73,408 units during the same period of last year,
Aishah said.

The more competitively priced Proton is now going places as it
prepares to penetrate more markets in Southeast Asia, including
the Philippines, Indonesia and Vietnam, after having penetrated
18 countries, including Britain.

Japanese models have lost out due largely to rising cost
attributable to the strengthening of the yen against the ringgit,
officials said.

Proton, launched nine years ago through a joint-venture with
Japan's Mitsubishi group and state-owned Heavy Industries
Corporation of Malaysia (HICOM), has over the years been
gradually eroding the market shares of Japanese cars in the
domestic market.

Mitsubishi Motor Corporation and Mitsubishi Motor hold 17
percent stake in the Proton venture, a cornerstone of Prime
Minister Mahathir Mohamad's ambitious plan to make Malaysia an
industrialized nation. The national car company is now listed on
the local bourse.