Perodua Bezza vs Proton Persona

The battle between Proton and Perodua is heating up with Perodua introducing their first sedan model in Malaysia which puts tremendous pressure on Proton. Proton has traditionally produced low end sedan models which has been popular due to its price but ever since Perodua entered the market more than a decade ago Proton's dominance has gradually been eroded away. Perodua mainly focused on small hatchbacks until now. The original intention was not to compete head on with Proton. The sales of the new Perodua Bezza caught Proton by surprise and they didn't expect the Bezza will give it such a hard time when it came to the new Persona sales. Proton claims 4000 bookings for the Persona but when one talks to a Proton dealers all will complain that no one is buying it. It appears that the handful of bookings are often rejected because the buyer is unable to secure the loan for the purchase of the car. It is very likely that the claimed 4000 bookings are a mixture of genuine buyers and people who wrote their name down for a test drive and those who just signed a visitor registration book in an attempt to create more market confidence.

The confidence in any model introduced by Proton is at its lowest. Despite trying to revamp its image, many Malaysian buyers are shying away from Proton as they feel betrayed in the past and the quality of their cars have gone from bad to worse. Proton's demise looks very likely to take place. Proton's last hope is the new upcoming Saga replacement which is the entry level model. About 50% of Proton sales is from the Saga model. If this model doesn't sell well, Proton will need to shut down. The Saga is aimed at value, as cheap as a Perodua Axia but bigger in size.

Many Malaysian consumers are sick and tired of Proton's attitude thinking that it will be bailed out by the Government. Proton has not aimed for quality nor attempt to win back the customer's confidence. Their TUV campaign years ago did nothing for their image. The damage was done from early days but during that time they had little competition and did not care about progress. As we all know there is no such thing as standing still in business and no one is too big to fail but Proton thinks like that. This is where rot starts to begin coupled with entrenched corruption at every level which ultimately forces the cost of the car to increase. With such issues, Proton is unable to be competitive and be profitable at the same time.

Perodua on the other hand is run like a Japanese company and is properly structured to be cost efficient and produce cars that people will buy. They also lean heavily on Daihatsu Japan for technical assistance and advice to progress with each model they introduce. Perodua cars are here to stay and will be the main competitor for Proton until Proton's demise.