Slow deliveries of 2024 Proton S70 not due to production issues; this is Proton's answer
Arvind · Feb 2, 2024 03:30 PM
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The 2024 Proton S70 marked the brand’s return to the C-segment sedan market. Launched in November 2023 and priced between RM 75,800 (1.5T Executive) and RM 96,800 (1.5T Flagship X), the S70 is largely slated to disrupt sales of the popular Toyota Vios and Honda City.
With over 5,000 bookings so far, it looks like Proton is right on the money with what the market wants. However, deliveries of the Proton S70 fell behind projections in December; only 109 units of the planned 800 units were delivered (as of 31-December 2023), inclusive of showroom vehicles.
When asked if production was slow initially, CEO of Proton Edar and Deputy CEO of Proton, Roslan Abdullah today explained, “Production was not slow, but we have been ensuring quality. This is a new model for us, so we have to ensure the maturity of our parts as well as our assembly process. The stock was in production, but we were thoroughly checking to ensure we don’t face similar problems because we are eager to deliver the car.”
The problem likely being referred to, was the case of a Proton X90 catching fire recently, which was later found to be caused by a poor grounding connection.
He added, “We had a good lesson learnt in the past, and we don’t want to repeat the same mistake. But we are increasing deliveries starting this month.”
Haizam Ghazali, Vehicle Program Executive at Proton also explained that Proton was intensively conducting engagement exercises with Geely with regards to quality and production over the past 2 months. This involved meeting with Geely's engineering and production staff to see where quality and production processes could be further improved.
More than just a left- to right-hand drive conversion, the S70 required the development of a lot of exclusive parts
On further specifics about Proton’s efforts to ensure quality in the S70, Roslan said, “The car is Geely Emgrand-based, but there are a lot of unique parts to Proton which is not available at Geely or in China. Then we also have to ensure the quality of local parts. So, there is a period of familiarisation,”
“This car is new, so we cannot take anything for granted, despite success in the past. We have to consider the entire supply chain – from materials, sourced parts, the process, to production up to dealer delivery”, he added.
According to Roslan, deliveries of the Proton S70 have been ramping up steadily in January so we can expect to see more S70 on the roads. The total number of deliveries in January should be known soon enough when Proton publishes its monthly sales report.
Arvind can't remember a time when he didn't wheel around a HotWheels car. This love evolved into an interest in Tamiya and RC cars and finally the real deal 1:1 scale stuff. Passion finally lead to formal training in Mechanical Engineering. Instead of the bigger picture, he obsesses with the final drive ratio and spring rates of cars and spends the weekends wondering why a Perodua Myvi is so fast.
