National carmaker Proton Holdings Bhd is confident it can sustain car sales this year despite tough market conditions.
This will be achieved with aggressive marketing and promotion, managing director Datuk Syed Zainal Abidin Syed Mohamed Tahir said.
It also expects volume for Proton’s export market to surpass last year’s 18,000 vehicles.
“We hope to do better than last year in terms of Proton exports,” Syed Zainal Abidin said after launching a special edition of the Persona, dubbed Persona SE, in Petaling Jaya yesterday.
Proton is eyeing new markets for the Persona and Persona SE, he added.
“For Persona SE, we want to market it first in Malaysia before taking it abroad. We are targeting to sell around 500 units a month here. We will export it to the UK, Indonesia, China, Thailand and Australia when demand picks up,” he said.
The company is aiming to export the Persona to Thailand, China and the Middle East by the year-end.
Currently, some 800 to 1,000 units of Persona are exported to Indonesia, the UK, Australia, Brunei and Singapore. In Malaysia, up to 3,000 units per month are sold.
As at Monday, Proton had 53,000 bookings for the Persona since its launch a year ago, Syed Zainal Abidin said.
The Persona SE retails at RM59,800. The 1.6-litre car comes with an auto-cruise mechanism, leather seats, a global positioning system and new bodykits.
-NST
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