Proton Establishes New Subsidiary To Spearhead And Expand Overseas Exports

PICSB board members includes the automaker's CEO Dr Li Chunrong (second from right), interim Deputy CEO Ainol Azmil (second from left) and CFO Chen Limin.

National carmaker Proton revealed today it established a new subsidiary called Proton International Corporation Sdn Bhd – or PICSB for short. This new business arm is now tasked with spearheading and expanding the automaker’s overseas exports.

Charged with leading this new business unit as its CEO is Edmund Lim Meng Thong, who touted PICSB’s establishment as “pivotal” towards “sharpening (Proton’s) focus and increasing (Proton’) agility to drive global expansion.”

Leading the new PICSB business unit as its CEO is Edmund Lim Meng Thong. 

“We are setting ambitious targets for the next few years and to achieve this, we are actively hiring more talent for our regional sales and marketing teams,” adds the exec.

Edmund also emphasised about the progress made at the Automotive High Tech Valley (AHTV), especially how it will “boost the automaker’s production capability to meet growing international demand.”

Proton presently exports to 19 overseas markets since 2020, and the Saga model stands as its best-seller overseas with 10,998 units shifted since.

Growing rapidly in terms of overseas sales too of late in the all-electric Proton e.MAS 7. 233 units have been shifted to Nepal and Trinidad & Tobago since March and June respectively.

Despite its recent formation, PICSB has set out some ambitious targets, even for its first year where it aims to achieve export sales total of 6,000 units. The firm then plans to double said figure next year and exceed 10 times that volume by 2030.

Proton currently exports to 19 overseas markets, those being Brunei, Fiji, Papua New Guinea, Trinidad & Tobago, Singapore, Bermuda, Bangladesh, Nepal, Pakistan, Mauritius, Sri Lanka, Egypt, Iraq, Ghana, Angora, Kenya, South Africa, Mozambique and Zimbabwe.

At its peak, Proton was once present across 64 markets worldwide up until the early 2000s. It even famously entered the UK where annual sales once peaked at 15,000 units.

Historically, Proton first began exporting overseas to Bangladesh in 1986 before expanding. It then famously entered the UK in 1992 where its annual sales peaked once peaked at 15,000 units. Speaking of peaks, Proton saw itself present across as many as 64 countries globally by the early 2000s before scaling back.

Presently, said pool of 19 overseas markets have generated 20,169 units in export sales since 2020. Leading things here is of course the Saga entry-level sedan (10,998 units), followed by the X50 B-SUV (3,986 units) and the X70 C-SUV (3,316 units).

Also growing rapidly on this front is the Proton e.MAS 7 EV SUV. A total of 233 units exported to both Nepal and Trinidad & Tobago since exports started there in March and June this year respectively.