Will There Be An End To The Proton Parts Shortage Woes?

More and more Proton owners are starting to publicly voice their anger over long waits for replacement parts.

The key success factors in the automotive industry include the betterment of quality, innovation, reliability, performance, cost and after-sales. Unfortunately, while some automotive brands treat after-sales as a business by treating it with the utmost importance, some just seem to place it as an afterthought. 

This is a shame, especially when all other aspects of the business are already on point, but a car is a car and will eventually need after-sales services, including replacement parts. 

Case in point, Proton and their lack of spare parts for their newer generation vehicle, the X70 and X50.

It's well-publicised online that owners of one of the best-selling SUVs in the country are starting to get annoyed at the lack of spare parts. One owner, Mohd Qarafi, who has tried to be optimistic about Proton, is starting to lash out publicly about his Proton woes on Facebook (he is one of many).

His Proton has been stuck in the service centre for two months now, due to a shortage of parts. To make things worse, Proton's customer service can't seem to give him a definitive answer to why it is taking so long. 

There's no doubt that the X70/ X50 are fantastic cars, but when owners start to voice their anger towards waiting time for replacement parts, it will have a knock-on effect to other consumers who will now want to avoid the vehicle altogether because they are worried about after-sales (an effect we're clearly seeing on social media where current owners are advising potential owners to stay away from Proton). 

It's well known that Proton's after-sales has not made the same leap as other aspects of their rejuvenated business. However, Proton last year bravely admitted that they are facing challenges in this department and that the COVID-19 pandemic and a new back end parts ordering and delivery system are to be blamed for this.

According to Focus Malaysia, the newest explanation to why there is a part shortage "stems from China's emission-reduction campaign, which was further aggravated by the winter season."

"Local governments in China have imposed power cuts and rationing on both industrial and residents" which has caused some delays in parts manufacturing." 

Despite the X70 being considered as a locally manufactured SUV, it only has 50% local content, which explains why some parts are harder to come by. 

Till they make it 100% or expedite imported parts, it sounds like it'll be pretty hard for Proton to speed up the delivery of replacement parts. There's no doubt that Proton is working hard to find a solution for this, and we hope they do, as it'll be a shame to throw away what they have already built on for the past five years - which was regaining consumer confidence and new fans.