Are the management at Proton already thinking about this
By now you already know that Proton is about to launch a full electric car which is a rebadged Geely product. No surprise here as Geely and Proton are partners and this is the right way to move forward.
So, the Proton eMas 7 bookings have already opened for a vehicle that will be priced from RM120,000.
Now, if you have internet connection and a social media account, you would already know (or you can easily google to find out) that the Proton eMas 7 is a Geely Galaxy E5 and this is the right way to to get into the electric car game. Partnerships! If you think Proton should start from scratch and develop a brand new electric car platform and drivetrain, think again.
Well, lets get back to our headline. In our humble opinion and we are sure many of you reading this (even from Proton and Geely) will agree that a number of legacy car manufacturers around the globe are seeing a decline in sales, reduction in demand at showroom level and even worse, change in buyer behavior (hybrid cars are making a comeback and Proton should be looking at hybrid vehicles instead).
Interestingly, even weeks ago there was news that automotive giant Volkswagen was looking at factory closures and a large reduction of their workforce. Then just last week Nissan announced a similar situation.
Now all this comes as new Chinese auto manufacturers bring to their showrooms high technology electric vehicles with great battery systems for longer driving range. Plus, their selling price are as low as combustion engine (petrol powered) cars.
Proton might be partially owned by Geely, but the production cost of rebadging an existing electric car like the eMas 7 and the shipping costs from China, immediately gives it a price disadvantage.
Furthermore, we already have 11 Chinese car manufacturers right now in Malaysia and another 4 more are about to set up business with very aggressive selling prices.
Just last week SAIC owned MG cars advertised the price reduction of their award winning MG4 EV Standard variant at a RM8.5k discount. This brings its selling price to a low RM95k. For the MG4 Lux variant there is a RM16k rebate which brings its price down to RM112k only (both lower than the Proton eMas 7). Wow!
Yes, the Proton eMas 7 is larger and has slightly more features, but it could also ‘push’ PRO-NET to give a rebate (just like they did with smart#1 when sales were not promising).
In May this year PRO-NET reduced the selling price of the smart#1 PRO to just RM169k (a year after its official launch and a RM20k rebate) and this move has not accelerated sales.
Interestingly, it looks like the electric vehicle ‘game’ is not as easy as it seems and even at a low price point, there are rivals from China like MG, BYD and even Chery (who just a week ago started local assembly of the E5 EV in Malaysia) who will be able to to lower their prices to keep their sales healthy.
So, how will PRO-NET be able to compete? Right now it seems that the only winners in this game are the showroom contractors who are renovating eMAS showrooms and the logistic operators moving the stock in from China. Lets not forget the ‘paid’ influencers, external event and PR teams that will be trying to persuade Malaysian electric car buyers to look away from Chery, MG and BYD EV’s.
Will it all work out?
