The all-new Proton S70 marked the brand’s return to the C-segment sedan market. Attractively priced between RM 75,800 (1.5T Executive) and RM 96,800 (1.5T Flagship X), the S70 was largely slated to disrupt sales of the Toyota Vios and Honda City, even break their longstanding dominance of the B-segment RM 80k – RM 100k sedan category.

However, thus far at least, the sales impact of the Proton S70 has been relatively muted, with deliveries appearing to be behind initial projections.

Also read: The hottest sedan in Malaysia? Here are all the prices and specs of the 2024 Proton S70 variants

Officially launched 28-November 2023, it didn’t take long for the S70 to rack up orders with Proton stating it had 3,600 bookings approximately 10 days after launch.

At the time, the CEO of Proton Edar and Deputy CEO of Proton, Roslan Abdullah stated (on 7-December) that deliveries were slated to begin within a week (targetted around Mid-December) and that it had 800 units ready to be delivered. 

However, according to its latest sales report – in which Proton wrapped up a stellar year with 154,611 units sold – it appears only 109 units of the Proton S70 have been added to that tally (as of 31-December), inclusive of showroom vehicles for authorised dealers.

Also read: Proton 2023 sales: Best-ever year since 2012 with 154k units sold, Saga, X50, Persona top-sellers

Proton has now stated that “customer deliveries of the Proton S70 will begin in 2024, and to date, more than 5,000 bookings have been received.”

Thus, we can reasonably assume that there are certain delays in customer deliveries of the Proton S70; also, the Honda City and Toyota Vios can still breathe easy for now, as the new-kid-on-the-block has yet to take its first strides.