Proton Exora Expected To Be On Thai Roads By Year End

Shah Alam, 14 August (Bernama) - The carmaker Proton Holdings Bhd plans, the first Multi-Purpose Vehicle (MPV), the Exora, Thailand before the end of this year.

Director Datuk Syed Zainal Abidin said the model was well received in Malaysia since its launch on 15 April and was a roaring sales in Indonesia since its premiere in July.

"Insha’Allah, November or December, the Exora are from Thailand, with the buyers and the media are well complemented Exora elements," he told reporters after the launch of the Proton Merdeka celebration today.

The program, from tomorrow until 15 September will be different Proton models, including the first Proton Saga and the recent Exora at a road convoy.

Syed Zainal said the day that Proton has 18,000 entries for the Exora MPV, while 10,000 are already in the market.

In Indonesia, Proton has 1200 bookings for the MPV, the 230 units have been delivered.

He said Proton was in the vehicle sales of 150,950 units for the year ended 31 March 2010, and plans to sell over 36,000 units of the Exora in the current year.

For the year ended 31 March 2009, the company sold 141,000 vehicles.

"We try our best to ensure the production to meet demand and waiting lists," Syed Zainal said, adding that the current monthly production of 3500 units was Exora.

The model has the program for the evaluation of the vehicles Malaysian certification by the Malaysian Institute for Road Safety Research (MirOS), scoring four out of five stars for safety assessment.

Syed Zainal said the accreditation is to strengthen public confidence in Proton cars.

In the first quarter, Syed Zainal said: "If you look at the sale, is of course a very good song."

"We are in a much more solid and stable. Given the current situation in the global automotive industry, where many companies, we are in difficult times, as a small company, able to adapt very quickly and again," Syed Zainal said.

Proton is expected next week to announce its financial results for the first quarter to 30 June 2009.

Meanwhile, Syed Zainal said Proton has so far Almost 17,000 tickets after the government was the regime for the scrapping of cars in the last mini-budget.

Under this scheme, owners of trade in their cars, they are 10 years or more, for a RM5, 000 discounts when purchasing a new vehicle or Proton Perodua.

"It is a very good program, as we have seen its effectiveness in Germany, Italy and France. We hope that the government of the benefits of the program, and perhaps in the future," he added.