2016 Proton Perdana

Proton last week introduced the new new 2016 Proton Perdana. Why I said 'new new' is because there was an earlier release which was introduced about 18 months earlier meant only for Government use but some units did trickle down to the public. The car is  heavily based on the previous generation Honda Accord. The new model is also based on the same Honda Accord model but with more revisions and changes. Aesthetic changes are visible outside but the inside little changes were made. The biggest groan from the public was the price. The car was priced from RM114,000 or US$28,500 and it was only RM11,000 cheaper than the cheapest model Honda Accord from the current generation. Who the hell will buy an old model even though it was heavily revised when you can get a brand new one that is current and offers more technological improvements?!

I am not sure what happened within Proton and if the engineers were sleeping on the job or someone in the top ranks were being fed very well by suppliers. The price is far to expensive and far too close to the current new Honda Accord. The advantage of having it locally assembled under Proton made little impact on the price. I believe the most of the public who were waiting for the car to be introduced was expecting a price that is at least RM20,000 cheaper giving it some sort of financial incentive to buy.

As expected Proton should really stick to rebadging since its engineering capabilities are limited. Going the rebadging route keeps them safe and not much can go wrong since the engineering work were done by the original car company who developed the car.

The competition will always be one step ahead of Proton if Proton only sticks to rebadging outdated models. The only way to stay competitive is through correct pricing where the price has to be much cheaper than the new model. Malaysians have been treated to tough automotive industry where buying cars is a big deal because of the high prices and many would settle for a rebadged older model if the price is much cheaper than the new model.