Proton S70: 400 Bookings Garnered, 2,000 Monthly Sales Targeted

Proton Deputy CEO Roslan Abdullah (first from right) with the new Proton S70 sedan during the model's line-off ceremony last month.

Earlier this week, Proton’s Deputy CEO Roslan Abdullah revealed to local press that the just announced new Proton S70 sedan model has garnered roughly 400 bookings within the first week since its initial line-off announcement on 31 Oct.

Roslan announced the initial bookings figure and more to press members earlier this week at the national carmaker’s Tanjung Malim plant shortly after hosting a visit at said facility by China’s Vice President Han Zheng.

Said figure is arguably a healthy indication of interest amongst local consumers, more so given the fact that no firm pricing schemes were revealed as yet for the new sedan. Presently, keen customers can place a booking for the S70 with a nominal fee of just RM500.

Roughly 400 bookings were placed for the new Proton S70 within the first week since it's initial line-off ceremony.

Besides that, Roslan also detailed the national carmaker’s target to shift up to 2,000 units monthly with said new model. For perspective, Proton’s current best-seller, the X50 compact crossover SUV, is averaging roughly 2,400 units monthly over the last two quarters.

Positioned as a C-segment sedan offering with a ‘70’ model name suffix – a la X70 – to match, Proton looks set to see the S70 stand as the best-selling offering in segment. Adding further to this prospect is the model’s potentially accessible pricing scheme over comparable Japanese segment rivals.

Based on the Geely Emgrand sedan, the localised S70 version set for launch before the end of this year stands unique over its original base car thanks to its adoption of an arguably peppier 1.5-litre 3-cyl turbo powerplant matched with an automatic dual-clutch transmission (DCT).

Roslan further noted Proton's target to shift up to 2,000 units monthly with the new S70 sedan.

Besides a peppier 1.5-litre 3-cyl turbo powertrain, top-specced guises of the S70 will also boast similar levels of connectivity and semi-autonomous driving safety features as seen in the X50, X70, and X90.

The initial teaser for the S70 also shows that the range-topping guise will harness equal level of connectivity-driven tech and semi-autonomous driving assistances as seen in other Geely-based offerings – namely the X50, X70, and X90 crossover SUVs trio.

No confirmed launch date has been announced, but all signs point towards that happening towards the tail-end of this month (Nov) or in the early parts of next month (Dec). Ahead of which, Proton is set to see its PRO-NET arm officially launch the smart #1 and smart #1 Brabus EVs first.