Things are going from bad to worse for Proton Pakistan as another car dealership is cutting ties with the auto manufacturer.
Last year, four dealerships in major cities announced to end their association with the company.
They cited different reasons for their decision, including the absence of information regarding delivery dates for vehicles booked since 2020, consistent price fluctuations despite delayed deliveries, and even adjustments in prices after customers had made full payments.
Now, the fifth dealership, South Motors in Karachi has announced that it has resigned from its 3S dealership status for the Proton brand. The dealership stated that it decided following extensive legal discussions and general deliberations involving all relevant stakeholders.
“We express our disappointment over the management of the Proton brand by its assembler and distributor in Pakistan, M/S Al Haj Automotive Pvt. Limited,” it said in a statement.
Additionally, South Motors also mentioned the reasons leading to the announcement. It includes miscommunication regarding vehicle deliveries, recurrent incidents of customer refund cheques being dishonored, and a negative impact on the brand and dealer image attributed to Al-Haj’s business practices.
The dealership informed the customers that “all pending deliveries and refund payments are the sole responsibility of Al-Haj Automotive.” However, it reiterated its commitment to supporting the customers in getting their refunds from the car assembler as soon as possible.
Furthermore, customers have been advised to visit the head office of Al-Haj Automotive for any inquiries related to deliveries and refund of payments.
It is pertinent to mention that the non-delivery of cars, particularly the Proton X70, has led to numerous consumer protests and legal actions against the company.
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Al Haj needs to seriously think why are they the way they are? What’s the point of doing business? Continuing their history, they are mismanaging a good product (Saga and the SUV).
If Proton fails in Pakistan, it would be because of mismanagement of Al Haj. Saga could have been the next mehran with a trunk in terms of sales. Because that’s what it is in its parent country, Malaysia.
It increasingly appears that Al Haj Motors may not have been genuinely committed to the Proton business from the outset, and the situation with FAW Motors seems to tell the same story. This pattern of behavior leads me to suspect that their primary objective might have been to earn interest from the funds accumulated through advance bookings made by customers, rather than focusing on delivering the vehicles or enhancing customer satisfaction.
People should be cautious of doing business with Al-Haj group in the future especially the people behind the group. Short sighted greedy individuals.
Yes of course if al Hajj group is not able to it sale this brand to other party .al Hajj is worst automotive group of Pakistan industrial state.shame on him .they are not able to provide parts of cars as well.
They haven’t paid their employees salaries. Some have jumped shop and off to the competition.
Al Haj has a history of failed car brands. Kia in 2000s, Faw after that, now Proton. This is the group to avoid
Al hajj motors are profiteers. There business model is to introduce new brands to pakistani market and after sometime they get rid of those brands and search for a newer one. Same they have did with FAW V2. Now they have stop that brand and customers who purchased those cars are finding it difficult to get the spare parts. No 1 is there to stop them.