The launches of the EX5 (or Geely Galaxy E5, or Proton eMas 7) in Thailand, and Aletra in Indonesia, mean that Geely per se is now in these major ASEAN markets. The Chinese giant has also formalised its entry into Australia and New Zealand (set to happen in 1H 2025), the latter via a partnership with Giltrap Group.
These all happened this week alone – a real RHD-market onslaught if we ever saw one. But when Proton and Geely got married in 2017, the promise then was to use the Proton brand for right-hand drive (RHD) and ASEAN markets, making Malaysia Geely’s regional RHD hub.
With Geely, not Proton, now in ASEAN’s two biggest car markets, how will the oft-repeated goal to make Proton No 3 in the region be achieved?
The choice of Geely as the brand to enter Australia instead of Proton is also something to think about deeply. After all, Proton was Down Under from 1995 to 2017, with the Jumbuck (Arena) being its most successful model. The idea that Geely’s global brand awareness and equity have grown to levels deemed sufficient to relegate the Malaysian brand’s 22 years in Australia, creates many different emotions.
There are also rumours that Geely is going to enter South Africa – a market that Proton is already in – and we suspect this Cape Town ain’t big enough for the both of them. The Proton brand is indeed used in RHD markets like Bangladesh, Kenya and Pakistan, but they are largely (Brunei, Mauritius, Mozambique etc) not big markets and one wonders if th..