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As part of the partnership between Proton and smart that was formalised at the distributor agreement signing ceremony today, Proton will be aiming to sell between 800 and 1,000 units of vehicles from the smart brand annually in Malaysia, with a longer term goal of ramping up to reach the 10,000-unit cumulative mark by 2027, Proton deputy CEO Roslan Abdullah said at the press conference following the signing of the agreement today.
“What smart offers is a premium product, so when you have a premium product as compared with other EV brands, I think we know that the [upcoming] range of products will be difficult to position below RM150,000,” Roslan said.
Looking at the income levels of certain, younger segments of the car-buying customer base, the carmaker is targeting buyers who are in the range of 25 to 35 years of age, some of whom can be seen driving cars which are priced more than RM200,000, the deputy CEO noted.
As mentioned at today’s signing of the general distributorship agreement (GDA), the smart #1 will be the first model to be sold by Proton in Malaysia, and the official launch for this fully electric model is scheduled to take place in the fourth quarter of 2023.
Unveiled in April this year, the smart #1 uses Geely’s Sustainable Electric Architecture (SEA) and will wear styling by Mercedes-Benz. Energy for the #1 will be stored in a 66 kWh battery, providing 440 km of range on the WLTP cycle, driven by a single rear-mounted electric motor producing 272 PS and 343 Nm of torque.
Retail operations for the brand will be modeled after those located in China and in the United Kingdom, Proton said in its statement today. There are also plans by the company to invest in a charging network through collaboration with a local charging provider, which will enable the installation of charging units in the homes of these EV customers, Proton said.
GALLERY: smart #1
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