At Proton’s media night yesterday, CEO Li Chunrong touted the achievements the national carmaker has made since it entered a “strategic partnership” with Geely back in 2017 (and the eight years since he was tapped to run the firm in 2018). The company may still be a ways away from its stated goal, but there’s no denying it has come far. It’s hard to imagine the state Proton was in eight years ago. The December 2018 debut of its first joint venture product, the X70, didn’t stop sales from sliding to a new low of 64,764 units. The company was also haemorrhaging money every year, having registered a loss of RM1.2 billion the year before; as Li put it, Proton was on the brink of bankruptcy. The company responded by leveraging its partnership in a product offensive, launching several new Geely-based models and updating its indigenously-designed ones. Li said the company introduced a total of 34 new models, although as you can see in the image below, this includes a number of special editions such as the limited-run R3 variants and even cars from the smart brand. But the point still stands. Quality is another area where Proton made a significant leap, with Li claiming a “10x” improvement. The company adopted Geely’s Global Customer Product Audit (GCPA) standard in late 2017, recording a demerit score of 6,388; today, this figure is down to 677. Elsewhere, Li touted a greatly expanded network of 3S and 4S showrooms. Proton made a concerted effort to convert 1S and 2S centres even before the partnership, and having started with 75 3S/4S outlets in 2017, the company now boasts 173 such dealers nationwide. This expansion is made even more impressive when you consider that this does not include the 48 new eMas outlets selling new energy vehicles. This has had a profound impact of sales, which has more than doubled from its 2018 nadir to 157,916 units last year – Proton’s highest in 15 years. Exports also surged to 6,000 units in 2025, hitting its target and representing its highest number in 12 years. Proton is expecting another big lift this year and hit the 200,000-unit mark, which will be a tall order – but as we’ve seen here, it’s achieved some deeply impressive feats in less than a decade. What do you think – will the company be able to achieve its goal? Let us know in the comments. Compare prices between different insurer providers to save the most on your car insurance renewal compared to other competing services. Many payment method supported and you can pay with instalment using Atome, Grab PayLater or Shopee SPayLater.
