BEIJING (CHINA), 9 January 2008 – The Proton GEN.2, rebadged as EUROPESTAR RCR for the China market, was officially launched today in Beijing. Launched by the Chairman of Youngman Automobile Sales Co. Ltd., Mr. Pang Qingnian and witnessed by the Chairman of PROTON Holdings Berhad, Dato' Mohd Azlan Hashim and the Malaysian Ambassador to China, His Excellency Dato' Norulzaman Syed Kamarulzaman. This launch paves the way for Proton cars to enter China, the world's fastest-growing car market.
Under its plans for the EUROPESTAR brand, Youngman is confident of selling the 30,000 completely built-up (CBU) units of GEN.2 it has ordered from PROTON within the 20 month delivery period.
Youngman has initially appointed 40 dealers to support the launch in terms of managing its sales, service and spare parts operations for the EUROPESTAR brand in China.
The EUROPESTAR RCR is targeted at small business owners, middle-income salaried workers and civil servants between the ages of 25-35 who are expected to find the model stylish, comfortable and yet affordable.
With its sporty stylish advanced design, the competitively priced EUROPESTAR RCR is expected to have a strong appeal in China, as indicated by the initial bookings of 1,500 units prior to the launch, said Dato' Mohd Azlan.
He expressed optimism that the rebadged GEN.2 will make inroads for PROTON in this new and important market, with prospects for significant growth.
With this launch of EUROPESTAR RCR, Dato' Mohd Azlan said that Youngman Group has indicated to PROTON that it wants to quickly commence completely knocked-down (CKD) assembly of these cars at its Jinan plant, which has a capacity to produce 300,000 cars.
Mr. Pang said that he believes that EUROPESTAR RCR has potential to grow to be a class leader in the hatchback segment of the passenger car market in China and has set a target to capture 20 per cent in 24 months.
Dato' Mohd Azlan said PROTON is optimistic that Youngman will make the EUROPESTAR brand a success in China given its commitment shown to this project and its track record in this market. This is clearly evident in the success of its involvement in the luxury coach business in China, where it took only three years to surpass other established big names to be No 1. Youngman now has an 85 per cent share of the luxury coach market segment.
In addition to the import of 30,000 GEN.2, Youngman has a collaborative engineering arrangement with PROTON to develop a new range of Made-in-China EUROPESTAR models. Under this collaborative arrangement, Youngman has the license for the GEN.2 platform and Campro engine as well as for the supply of genuine parts.
This business arrangement with Youngman paves the way for a greater depth of involvement for PROTON in China and will earn for PROTON significant revenue over the longer term.
"China is set to be yet another key market that will feature prominently in PROTON’S export optimization plan," continued Dato’ Mohd Azlan.
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