KUALA LUMPUR: Proton Holding Bhd has reached a 7.5-year high in March 2021 after selling 14,989 units, up 26.2 per cent from February.
Overall, Proton retained second position in the sales ranking with a market share of 23.5 per cent.
For the first quarter (Q1) of the year, the company achieved a cumulative sales of 32,826 units, its highest quarterly volume since March 2012.
Proton Edar Sdn Bhd chief executive officer Roslan Abdullah said the company estimated total industry volume (TIV) to grow over 630,000 units, suggesting all brands will post their best numbers for the year.
"After a soft start to the year, Malaysia's automotive industry has finally hit its stride for 2021.
"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.
"As things stand, we still have a large order bank to fulfil so over the next few months, Proton will strive to increase production while maintaining our focus on delivering high quality products," he said in a statement today.
Roslan added that it was mindful that Penjana incentives were due to expire by the end June.
Hence, it aimed to ensure as many customers as possible were able to enjoy the tax holiday given by the government.
Proton said deliveries for its two sport utility vehicle (SUV) models continued to grow in March as the company's new production line at Tanjung Malim increased its output for the month.
It said 3,513 units of the X50 were delivered to customers while the X70 saw a month-on-month increase of 58.4 per cent to 2,337 units.
"When combined, it means Proton set another internal record with 5,850 SUVs delivered, beating the previous record of 4,820 units that was set just last month," it said.
The company's top seller remains the Saga and with 5,589 units delivered, sales for the A-segment sedan grew by 32.5 per cent compared to February.
The Persona, Iriz and Exora also posted their best figures for the year with the evergreen multi-purpose vehicle (MPV) once again claiming the crown for highest C-segment MPV sales.