PROTON looked back at 2018” and unveiled the 10 biggest stories to highlight a busy year for the national carmaker.
These stories, selected by employees of the company, demonstrate the moments when Proton touched the lives of its customers in various ways.
Launch of Proton X70 caps a year full of highlights
1. Though the event occurred during the last month of 2018, the launch of the Proton X70 by Prime Minister of Malaysia Tun Dr Mahathir, was the undoubted car launch of year not just for Proton but for the entire Malaysian automotive industry.
The first SUV for the brand was covered extensively by the media and caught the imagination of car buyers who flocked to showrooms to place advance bookings.
2. Pre-launch publicity efforts for the X70 started much earlier in 2018 though. On April 14, the online naming poll was launched to get Malaysians to select a name, garnering a huge number of responses.
The favoured choice of course was “X70”, both for its simplicity and easy naming convention making it applicable in a wide number of export markets.
3. Focus turned to the current range of Proton models on July 17 with the launch of the “Proton 1-Tank Adventure”, which invited owners of the Proton Iriz, Persona and Saga to compete alongside media members and key opinion leaders to explore the delights of various Malaysian states using a single tank of fuel.
4. It then shifted to the deepening of the collaboration between Geely and Proton with a signing ceremony to officiate the agreement held in China in August to explore future plans to build and sell Proton cars there.
5. During the same month, the company created a new entry in the Malaysia Book of Records for most people in an MPV when 55 people squeezed into a Proton Exora during the “Ace the Space Challenge”.
6. The last four months of 2018 marked a ramp up in milestone events; in September, the X70 was previewed to invited guests, kicking off a series of events that brought the SUV to seven major cities in Malaysia.
7. A brief respite from product-centred events followed on Oct 13 with the company’s sponsorship of the national sports day 21km run (HSN21KM) but the spotlight returned to the X70 on Oct 17 with the launch of an online booking platform specific to the new SUV.
As the year rolled into November, two more milestones highlighted Proton’s year in the news.
8 & 9. Firstly, the X70 received a five-star Asean NCAP rating, making it one of the safest vehicles in its class, which was quickly followed by its public debut at Kuala Lumpur International Motor Show 2018.
10. Then, Proton won the Sepang 1000KM race on Nov 23 with the Proton Iriz, making it the winningest brand in the history of the event and marking the fourth different model to have won the race.
“Proton is very proud of the milestones we have achieved in 2018 and we want to share them with all our customers as we briefly look back at the busy year we had,” said Proton CEO Li Chunrong.
“For 2019 we have events coming up, which will focus on our customers as the company sets off on the next phase of our brand building initiatives. We are looking forward to a successful year ahead and we are excited to share that success with our employees, dealers, vendors and everybody involved with Proton.”
