Al-Haj Proton’s momentum in terms of establishing its reputation in the Pakistani market had decelerated significantly in the previous months due to a massive outbreak of COVID-19 in Malaysia which had resulted in the suspension of the automaker’s production and sales operations.
However, the Chief Executive Officer (CEO) of Proton Holdings, Roslan Abdullah, told the media yesterday that the majority of the company’s staff has been fully vaccinated, and its production and sales operations have been reinitiated across the country.
He announced that “with production at both its plants now restored, Proton is also able to resume its export activities,” and added that “Pakistan will receive three shipments of the Proton X70 amounting to about 108 units in September along with completely-knocked down (CKD) packs of the Proton Saga ahead of its rollout, now estimated to take place at the end of October”.
The X70 SUV was launched in Pakistan near the end of 2020, and the Saga sedan was debuted earlier this year. Since their launches, their sales have been relatively slow because of the supply chain issues that began in the second quarter of 2021, along with the pandemic-induced lockdown in Malaysia.
Al-Haj Proton had informed the public on several occasions that the local assembly plant is almost ready but no significant follow-up activity has been reported until now. Therefore, the impending arrival of the CKD kits for Proton Saga is a promising sign for the company’s local assembling facility to finally become operational in the final quarter of the current calendar year.
