National car maker, Perusahaan Otomobil Nasional Sdn Bhd (Proton) hinted that they will launch a new energy vehicle (NEV) model within a few months.
According to the Chief Executive Officer of Proton, Dr Li Chunrong said they will launch the latest model soon. Maybe in the next six to eight months and they will also launch a second EV model after the first vehicle is on the market.
Li said this during a presentation on 'Proton's Future Plan Product Strategy' at the company's Chinese New Year Prosperity Dinner on Tuesday.
He also said that Proton is planning to expand its powertrain portfolio with the launch of the latest generation engines and offer a high competitive advantage in the market.
In 2023, the company achieved its fifth consecutive year of sales growth with total domestic and export sales of 154,611 units, which is the highest sales performance since 2012.
This represents a 9.3% increase over the 141,432 units sold in 2022.
This progress is a target that the Ministry of Trade and Industry (MITI) wants to meet, Tengku Datuk Seri Zafrul Abdul Aziz previously stated in November last year that MITI is very optimistic together with local car manufacturers such as Perodua and Proton to produce the first national EV by 2025.
Proton is currently planning to establish a new R&D center in Hangzhou, China that will specialize in the development of Saga, Persona and Iriz models in the future.
The development of New Energy Vehicles (NEV) is in its exploratory works. However, the two previously mentioned EV models are likely to be hybrids.
