Managing director Datuk Syed Zainal Abidin Syed Mohamed Tahir said export of the 1.6-litre MPV will kick off three months after that.Indonesia will be among the first "high growth countries or regional markets" to get the MPV, Syed Zainal told participants at the third Islamic Economic Congress in Kuala Lumpur yesterday.
He did not give a reason for the change in the MPV launch date. The MPV, he said, is a continuation of Proton's product strategy of having "the right car for the right market". The strategy started with the Saga and Persona sedans.
Syed Zainal said the company knows it cannot work alone to survive the tougher global automotive landscape amid slowing growth, changing demand to smaller and more fuel-efficient vehicles, volatile currency rates and pressure on margins.Hence, it will continue to form non-equity alliances with other carmakers in areas like product development and CKD (completely knocked down) operations.
The carmaker has already sealed a deal with Mitsubishi Motors to help it build a replacement model for the Waja sedan.
Proton has also signed CKD deals in China and Iran, and is in talks on similar pacts in India, Egypt and Jordan, Syed Zainal said.
Together with its British sportscar outfit Lotus, Proton is working on developing "unconventional" vehicles such as hybrid and electric cars. They are also developing a more fuel efficient engine that will be out in two years.
Internally, it will keep focusing on human capital development to create staff who really know its products, business and the overall industry.
Meanwhile, Syed Zainal told the congress that Proton's domestic capital investment amounted to over RM8 billion in the past 23 years.
It paid RM1.3 billion to 77 Bumiputera vendors out of the total RM2.9 billion payout to 220 vendors for component purchases in 2007.
Syed Zainal also noted that Bumiputera dealers accounted for 146 out of the total 232 dealers in its portfolio. The Bumiputera dealers' business volume amounted to RM1.7 billion in 2007.
