That could be attributed to several factors, including the recent news that 50 of its staff at the Shah Alam office tested positive for COVID-19.
Despite that, Proton has said that they are going ahead with the launch of the Proton X50.
Going with Plan B
According to a report by Soyacincau, they plan to go ahead with the official launch of the Proton X50 according to their schedule.
A spokesperson told the tech website that they have planned for a physical event to take place, but due to the current situation, they will instead announce the SUV in a virtual event, just like they did with the launch of the Proton Saga 35th anniversary edition recently.
The spokesperson added that they have planned for the event to take place even before the Conditional Movement Control Order (CMCO) 2.0 was announced on 12 October, but "the company had decided that such an event would not be in tandem with the mood of the nation and decided to scale things down considerably".
However, the report made no mention of when exactly the virtual launch event will take place, although we are pretty sure it's coming within these couple of weeks.
On top of that, the spokesperson has assured potential buyers that the COVID-19 incident will not affect the production of the cars.
The Proton X50 are being assembled at their Tanjung Malim plant in Perak.
"As for our the production of our cars, while this incident means workers in the Engineering Division need to be under quarantine, we do not expect it to impact our production volumes," the spokesperson was quoted by Soyacincau as saying.
To jog your memory, the Proton X50 comes in four variants - Standard, Executive, Premium and Flagship - and two engine options.
As always, the base model is the X50 1.5T Standard, and then progresses to the 1.5T Executive, 1.5T Premium and tops out with the 1.5 TGDI Flagship.
The Standard trim packs quite an impressive list of kit. You’ll get a 1.5-litre turbo inline-three engine mated to the new seven-speed dual-clutch transmission. Output is 148hp and 226Nm of torque.
Completing the kit count are four airbags, full LED headlights, 17-inch wheels, full fabric seats, rear air-conditioning vents, 8.0-inch touchscreen infotainment unit and a reverse camera.
Step up to the Executive and the extras include six airbags, a leather wrapped steering wheel, auto headlights, front fog lights and leatherette seats.
If that doesn’t cut it for you, the Premium throws a tyre-pressure monitoring system, power-adjustable driver’s seat, a larger 10.25-inch touchscreen infotainment unit and a 360-degree view camera system into the mix.
Sitting atop the X5 food-chain is the 1.5 TGDI Flagship. The engine powering this is still a 1.5-litre turbo inline-three but with direct-injection that brings more ponies to the table.
Here, you’ll get 175hp and 255Nm of torque. Apart from that, you’ll finally find the Advanced Driver Assistance System (ADAS 2.0) that now adds human detection to complement the object detection.
Last but certainly not the least in Proton's flagship trim style, there’s a panoramic sunroof.