SUBANG JAYA: National carmaker Proton expanded its footprint in international markets by the start of completely knocked-down (CKD) operations in Egypt.
The addition of CKD operations in Egypt brings the number of plants involved in CKD and semi knocked-down (SKD) activities for Proton overseas to five.
The company also flagged off 120 units of left hand-drive (LHD) Proton Saga CKD packs at Proton's Centre of Excellence here to be assembled by Ezz Elsewedy Automotive Factories (ESAF) in Egypt.
The Egyptian assembly plant will have an annual installed capacity of 50,000 units.
Aside from producing LHD Saga for the Egyptian market, the plant will also act as a regional springboard to supply the Proton models to the Middle Eastern and African markets.
Among those present at the send off event were Ministry of Investment, Trade and Industry deputy secretary-general (industry) Datuk Hanafi Sakri, Proton chairman Tan Sri Syed Faisal Albar, Egyptian Ambassador to Malaysia Ragai Tawfik Said Nasr and Ezz Elarab Elsewedy Automotive Factories board member Amr Abou-Elseoud.
Proton has been present in the Egyptian automotive market with its partner Ezz Elarab since 2004.
Overall, nearly 17,000 CBU units have been exported to the country in that time and in 2024, it is forecast that over 1,400 units will be shipped there.
Proton deputy chief executive officer Roslan Abdullah said export sales are an important area of focus for Proton in its efforts to achieve long term goals.
"As the Malaysian automotive market reaches a natural saturation point, future volume growth potential will come from overseas markets where consumer demand is expected to be on an upward trend in the future," he said.
Proton international sales director Steven Xu said Proton is the leading exporter of vehicles in Malaysia.
"While our current volume is approximately 3% of our total sales numbers, efforts are being made to increase that number by focusing on multiple core areas," he said.
Proton is expected to achieve a revenue of RM570mil from the export of CKD packs to Egypt for the first three years to 2026.
At the same time, the local Egyptian economy is expected to earn up to RM180mil in duties and taxes on the assembly of Proton vehicles in the country.
Xu said the Saga CKD operations in Egypt played into the decision of the Egyptian government to end the import of foreign-made cars in the future.
"This in turn creates the potential for greater future capacity expansion in the country, especially after we launch new models, with the aim to make Egypt the hub for Proton vehicle exports in the North African region," he said.
Xu also said that the Saga was chosen as the CKD model for Egypt as entry-level cars were in demand in developing nations.
He said many major car companies were not focused at the entry car segment because of low profit.
"But as a national car company, we have the task of serving ordinary people," he said.
