Proton To Launch CNG-powered Car In Thailand

Phranakorn Auto Sales, the distributor for Proton cars in Thailand, will launch the new CNG-powered Proton Persona here Tuesday.

It will be the fourth Proton model entering the kingdom since Proton made its debut here at the end of last year with the Savvy, Gen-2 and Satria Neo models.

A Phranakorn executive said this would be the first Persona model to be fitted with pre-installed compressed natural gas (CNG) kits and was likely to attract car buyers looking for energy-saving models due to the current high oil price.

The Persona model, a winner of the Frost and Sullivan 2008 Best Model of the Year, has received bookings of more than 54,000 units to-date in Malaysia since its launch in August 2007.

Proton made its entry into the Japanese-dominated Thai market at the end of 2007, bringing in the three models, taking advantage of the low five percent import duty imposed under the Asean Free Trade Area (Afta) agreement.

During the launch in 2007, Savvy was priced from 399,000 baht, making it the cheapest car on the road in Thailand at one time while the Neo and the Gen.2 were priced from 499,000 baht and 549,000 baht respectively.

Currently, the Savvy is Proton's most popular model in Thailand, accounting for about 50 percent of all sales, followed by the Gen-2 with 30 percent and the rest by Neo.

Proton has increased its sales target in Thailand from 2,000 units to 5,000 units for 2008, with the first-quarter sales reaching 1,500 units.

But since March, Savvy has been getting fierce competition from another Malaysian make, the Naza Forza, which entered the market with a price tag of 349,000 baht, almost 50,000 baht lower than the Savvy.