SUBANG JAYA - Malaysia's once struggling national carmaker Proton is bouncing back, surpassing expectations by registering double-digit growth and nabbing second spot in auto sales in the country this year.
Proton is currently available in several countries such as Pakistan and Brunei with over a thousand units sold abroad last year. At its peak, the carmaker was selling over 20,000 units abroad but this fell to only 248 units in 2017. Proton's fortunes have turned since Geely took the 49.9 per cent stake in the company. Proton has sold over 52,000 vehicles between January and July this year, a sharp improvement on the 72,000 units sold for the whole of 2016. The uptick has given Proton an estimated 15 per cent market share in Malaysia for 2019.