Proton has announced that the Saga will be locally assembled (CKD) in Egypt by Ezz Elsewedy Automotive Factories (ESAF), which formed a partnership with local distributor Ezz Elarab last November. With investments amounting to over USD15 million (about RM65 million), the CKD project is said to have a production capacity reaching 50,000 units in the coming years.
Today’s announcement also saw the first 120 CKD packs of the Saga being shipped to Egypt, a left-hand drive market that welcomed Proton cars again November 2018. Currently, only the Saga is sold in Egypt, with three variants of the facelifted sedan offered there since December 2020 – the cars were previously fully imported (CBU) from Malaysia.
The start of CKD operations in Egypt will allow Proton to leverage on the country as a regional hub for producing cars to be sold in Middle Eastern North Africa (MENA) region, which is something that was mulled for quite some time.
The project is also in line with Egypt’s Automotive Industry Development Programme (AIDP) launched last November, which aims to promote CKD assembly while severely cutting down on CBU imports.
Proton now has five overseas CKD projects under its belt, including in Pakistan, Bangladesh, Sri Lanka, Kenya and Egypt. The company aims to grow its export quantity to 10,000 units in the coming years. According to Steven Xu, Proton’s director of international sales, the company exported about 5,000 cars in 2022 and has a presence in 20 countries.
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