Proton on the right track?

Article from Bussiness Times today:

Proton en route to better times

BANGKOK: Proton Holdings Bhd (5304) expects 2009 net profit to surpass RM200 million, driven by increased sales, operating efficiency and the launch of new models.

Managing director Datuk Syed Zainal Abidin Syed Mohd Tahir said the national carmaker was headed towards better times despite the challenging economy.

Its net profit in the first half ended September 30 2009 rose 42 per cent year-on-year to RM136.6 million, while revenue was up 11 per cent to RM3.96 billion.

In the financial year ended March 31 2009, it made a net loss of RM320 million on revenue of RM6.5 billion.

"As you can see from our results, we have achieved more than RM100 million in net profit. We expect the earnings momentum to be sustainable as demand for our existing car models like the Exora, Savvy and Saga 1.3 continues to improve," Syed Zainal Abidin told Business Times here.
He was also hopeful that revenue would exceed RM6.5 billion this year, with exports contributing up to 24 per cent.

According to Syed Zainal Abidin, Proton has a healthy order book with two months of outstanding bookings to help it achieve its targets.

"There is a lot of efficiency in the way we operate now, including plant maintenance. So there are better margins and revenue coming out of our system," he said.

Proton will be launching upgraded versions of its Waja and Perdana cars by early next year.

The Waja is headed for an enhancement programme through a collaboration with Japanese giant Mitsubishi. The same arrangement is being undertaken with another car company for the Perdana.

"Like any other car company, we have to always introduce new vehicles as well as refresh our existing models for us to be relevant to move forward. We have to look at the A, B, C and D segments and multi-purpose vehicles. Long gone are the days when a car is in the market for 11 to 12 years," Syed Zainal Abidin said.

Proton's plan is to introduce at least one new model a year.

By mid-2011, Proton will introduce the C-segment sedan, which will help widen its reach in international markets, Syed Zainal Abidin said.

Business Times had reported early last month that a clay model of the new sedan, which will be produced in Malaysia, was ready at renowned design house Italdesign-Giugiaro SpA in Turin, Italy.

Proton is also targeting to export up to 55 per cent more cars next year to boost profits. Last year, it exported 18,438 vehicles to 24 countries. It aims to export more than 26,000 units this year.

"Hopefully, next year, we will be challenged to break the 40,000-mark," Syed Zainal Abidin said.

On the home front, Proton is targeting sales of 155,000 cars this year, up by almost 10 per cent from 141,958 last year.

Besides revamping its existing models to increase car sales, Proton will expand its presence in Southeast Asia, the Middle East, China and the UK. It will also look to new markets like Australia and India.

Key takeaways that matters are new Waja,Perdana and Persona are on the stream in this order. Persona is going to get an Italian touch, whereas Waja and Perdana is a rebadged previous acquaintances.

Long awaited Perodua MPV

Perodua has launched its mini people mover yesterday. The car is named Alza, which was said to mean 'rise' in Spanish. This is the third car in Toyota Passo Sette/Daihatsu Luminas family and as usual, Perodua version carries difference aesthetic for front end design as well as the interior design.

As can be seen from the photo, the headlight has gained particular attention. The curve at the bottom of the headlight unit blends really well with the bumper design. Amber

turn signal embedded in the main headlight unit add the extra touch of classiness.

Rear end, meanwhile, is as close to its japanese sibling as current Myvi does with its Passo/Boon brothers. After a dramatic front fascia design, the rear end design,particularly the flat tailgate and bumper is a kind of anti-climax to what is actually pleasing design to the eye.

As of the launch yesterday, there are two interior design available. The first one is for the automatic version, which features centre console mounted gear shift, together with triangular placement of air conditioning dials. This console design is particularly attractive and very contemporary in appearance.

The manual version, on the other hand,appears to be like an afterthought variant whereby the gear lever is floor mounted as per Myvi (complete with carryover floor console). This is, aesthetically, not a problem per-se, but the deletion of gear shift at the centre console left the panel to be very void and ugly indeed. The rotary dials are horizontally arrange as opposed to previously-mentioned triangular arrangement for auto version.Upon quick check on Toyota Japan website revealed that there is no manual variant in japan,hence explaining the awkward layout of the console.

The interior is spacious for the first two rows,where the seats are nicely shaped,spaced and trimmed.But the third row is best left folded or only to carry kids as its quite crammed.

Overall perceived quality seems to be good,with consistent panel gaps and flushly fitted neighboring body panel.But the interior seems to have a very cheap-looking texture,particularly for plastic parts below waist level.Lower center console,lower door trim panel and lower dashboard panel are very lightly textured,cheapness further accentuated by light colouring.The upper level plastic part such as door trim upper and top portion of the dashboard fare a bit better, textured akin to Toyota Vios, rather than featuring deep,better texture pattern as on Myvi.

The door slam sou nd and feeling is solid.It thunk instead of crash like Myvi. Operation effort through door outer handle is also nicely tuned for the showroom car.

All in all Alza is commendable effort by Perodua for its first MicroMPV. There's so much to be liked for this car.It may not have all the space in the world like its fellow national MPV rival,but its appears t o be attractive enough for its intended target market.

Six variants are available from the launch, standard and premium grade for each manual and automatic transmission and additional Advance version. Grade level are differentiated by safety features like ABS,EBD and airbags as well as asthetical differences (rear spoiler,front fog lamp, chromed and silvered interior bits) all of which are lacking in the standard grade variant. Price ranges from mid RM50k to RM70k for top of the line Advance version.

This is all for now,coming soon are more detailed analysis of Alza design and engineering.Stay tune!