At the end of 2018 Proton introduced its first ever SUV X70 which was a Geely sourced model that was tweaked to suit local Malaysian market. The sales of this new SUV was moderate upon launching but have since gained a lot of momentum. It is currently the top selling SUV model in Malaysia now and have gained the confidence of local buyers. The car is decent looking with good interior design as well as advanced infotainment system that is not found even in cars costing 4 times more. The initial response was a good but not great as many buyers were concerned about the quality and reliability of the car since it was a China derived model. The sales surged 3 months after the initial launch when many X70 units were seen on the streets. This gave a more confidence to new potential buyers coupled with many good motoring reviews of the car.
Proton then took 3 old existing models like the IRIS, Persona and the Saga and reworked them heavily as part of the facelift exercise. Geely sent numerous engineers from China to help with the facelift project which saw the quality of the car improve in the areas of NVH and build quality. when the facelift models were introduced numerous motoring journalists raved about the improvements which spurred more sales for Proton.
Proton has now capture the 2nd spot for car sales in Malaysia. This second place was lost to Honda in 2018 and now Proton is able to be competitive once again. Proton plans to launch a smaller SUV called the X50 which is based on a Geely model. This X50 is to be priced between RM75,000 to RM90,000 which is cheap and will affect the sales of Honda's BRV and HRV as well as the Toyota Rush and Vios. The X50 will come with a 1.5 litre turbo with a 6 speed direct shift gearbox, something unheard of in a car in this price range.
Geely plans to utilise more of its models for Proton to capture a greater portion of the car market. Companies like Nissan, Honda, Toyota and Hyundai should be worried, especially Toyota since its model offerings are either outdated model that have been revised or models using outdated technology. Proton's target market will no longer be for budget car buyers but will cater to a wider audience with its upcoming product offerings.
What all this means is that with the right injection of capital, models and engineering a company like Proton can be turned around. Prior to its acquisition by Geely, Proton was floundering and lost. The engineering team was lost and had no direction, the company was riddled with corruption and the dealership network was a complete mess. With the right management the company can return to profit and introduce exciting new models that people will want to buy.
Wednesday 24 July 2019
Tuesday 9 July 2019
EV or hybrid?
The automotive world is moving towards electric power but there are still some companies that still strongly support the internal combustion engine such as Mazda who firmly believe in the internal combustion engine. The rest of the world have either started their EV line up or have a hybrid in their current model offering.
The question now is which is a better option, the EV or the hybrid?
Many argue that the hybrid gives better flexibility in terms of usage since it does away with the range anxiety issue that is common with EVs. However, the hybrids of late have been plagued with problems stemming from the relays, power delivery switch module and battery itself. These problems are not isolated to the new hybrid adopters like BMW, Porsche, Mercedes but it also have appeared on Toyotas. There have been numerous reports on the Camry hybrid giving problems when the car's mileage hit 60,000km which is quite surprising since Toyota's record for reliability is the best in the industry.
The EV's problem is charging infrastructure, range anxiety, charging time (now much faster than before), and cost of battery replacement. Not everyone lives in a landed property that can facilitate EV charging and there aren't enough public charging stations. This is truly an inconvenience for EV owners. EVs are also more expensive to buy than regular cars due to their smaller production volume. In countries like Norway the emphasis have been on EVs and the government have put a lot of money into building the charging infrastructure to support it. In other countries the adoption is far slower as the cost of building the infrastructure is high.
there is no right or wrong option for these 2 types of cars but one must weigh out the pros and cons of both before committing to the purchase. Seeing that many countries have announced bans on fossil fuel cars by a certain year, it is very likely that the EV will be choice. The question is when is the right time to make the switch? In countries where the geographic area is huge and the distance between cities or towns is far the EVs will struggle to sell until there is sufficient charging infrastructure installed. Countries like Australia where the distance between cities can be over 1000km there are no EVs that can exceed 600km on a single charge, the driver will need to make at least 1 stop. Even with a rated 600km driving range the real world driving range will be at least 20% less due to the use of air conditioning and other electrical functions in the car. This means that the driver will need to stop twice for the same journey while the hybrid owner can just make just one quick stop for fuel.
From what is observed, the EVs make a lot of sense in highly populated cities to cut air pollution and since the required driving range isn't very far the EVs will be very suitable.
Audi recently made an announcement claiming that they have pioneered the technology to convert CO2 to fuel which can have a massive impact on the automotive industry. The conversion of CO2 into fuel can reverse the amount of carbon in the air and essentially kill the EVs. Many things may change in the next 10 years. It is too early to say what will happen and if governments will reverse their ban on fossil fuel cars.
The question now is which is a better option, the EV or the hybrid?
Many argue that the hybrid gives better flexibility in terms of usage since it does away with the range anxiety issue that is common with EVs. However, the hybrids of late have been plagued with problems stemming from the relays, power delivery switch module and battery itself. These problems are not isolated to the new hybrid adopters like BMW, Porsche, Mercedes but it also have appeared on Toyotas. There have been numerous reports on the Camry hybrid giving problems when the car's mileage hit 60,000km which is quite surprising since Toyota's record for reliability is the best in the industry.
The EV's problem is charging infrastructure, range anxiety, charging time (now much faster than before), and cost of battery replacement. Not everyone lives in a landed property that can facilitate EV charging and there aren't enough public charging stations. This is truly an inconvenience for EV owners. EVs are also more expensive to buy than regular cars due to their smaller production volume. In countries like Norway the emphasis have been on EVs and the government have put a lot of money into building the charging infrastructure to support it. In other countries the adoption is far slower as the cost of building the infrastructure is high.
there is no right or wrong option for these 2 types of cars but one must weigh out the pros and cons of both before committing to the purchase. Seeing that many countries have announced bans on fossil fuel cars by a certain year, it is very likely that the EV will be choice. The question is when is the right time to make the switch? In countries where the geographic area is huge and the distance between cities or towns is far the EVs will struggle to sell until there is sufficient charging infrastructure installed. Countries like Australia where the distance between cities can be over 1000km there are no EVs that can exceed 600km on a single charge, the driver will need to make at least 1 stop. Even with a rated 600km driving range the real world driving range will be at least 20% less due to the use of air conditioning and other electrical functions in the car. This means that the driver will need to stop twice for the same journey while the hybrid owner can just make just one quick stop for fuel.
From what is observed, the EVs make a lot of sense in highly populated cities to cut air pollution and since the required driving range isn't very far the EVs will be very suitable.
Audi recently made an announcement claiming that they have pioneered the technology to convert CO2 to fuel which can have a massive impact on the automotive industry. The conversion of CO2 into fuel can reverse the amount of carbon in the air and essentially kill the EVs. Many things may change in the next 10 years. It is too early to say what will happen and if governments will reverse their ban on fossil fuel cars.
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