The announcement was met with a big fan fare, as Malaysians can't stop gushing about the sporty SUV that is based on the Geely Binyue.
(You can check out the full specs sheet here if you want to know what the hype is about)
However, despite announcing the specs and the features that you can find in the Proton X50, the local automaker stopped short at revealing the price of the vehicle.
That caused a little bit of drama among Malaysians who are interested in buying the car, as they were not happy that Proton decided to not reveal the price point during the media preview event.
In fact, rumours about the X50's price range have been so rampant, Proton has to come out and disprove an image of the rumoured price list that's gone viral on social media recently:
Judging by how things are, we can only expect Proton to release the full pricing for the X50 once they officially launch the car, which is rumoured to be happening next month.
But, being the excellent internet sleuths we are (ahem!), we think we may have figured out the price range of the Proton X50, and why we think the prices are not too far off from the image that went viral above.
Let us explain.
The clue is in the quote
During the media preview which happened at Proton's Tanjung Malim headquarters last Tuesday (15 September), some of our media friends, like all of us Malaysians, were also curious about the price range for the Proton X50.So, when asked how much Malaysians can expect to fork out for the X50, Proton CEO Dr Li Chunrong explained that he doesn't want the X50 to be "constrained to just one segment".
More interestingly, Dr Li added that Malaysians are more likely to buy a vehicle based on their budget, and not the segment the vehicle is in.
On face value, it does make sense: you buy something only if you think you can afford it. If the item is within your budget and it's bigger or better than you expected it to be, then that's a bonus.
But, if you read between the lines, Dr Li might have just hinted that the price of the Proton X50 will cover all the vehicle segments in Malaysia.
That would explain why Proton would release four variants of the X50 in Malaysia (Standard, Executive, Premium and Flagship) with varying techs and features, while some of its closest competitors like the Honda HR-V and Toyota C-HR, for example, have only three variants and one variant respectively.
So, based on that assumption, we're going to take a wild guess that the Proton X50 will be priced at:
RM74,800 for the Standard variant
RM86,800 for the Executive variant
RM98,800 for the Premium variant
RM103,800 for the Flagship variant
Editor's note: Like we mentioned above, the numbers are just an assumption, OK? Please do not pick up your pitchforks and start a riot at our office or something.
Why we think that is
There are three reasons why we feel that the Proton X50 will be priced from RM74,800 to RM103,800:#1 The 'missing' price range in Proton's stable
It is not uncommon for a big car company to introduce a model in every car segment, because they want to expand their market share as wide as possible.
Honda has a vehicle model for almost every segment, and the same goes for Proton's younger 'sibling' Perodua, who has a model in every budget segment.
But unlike Honda and Perodua, Proton is a little bit more special: they have a model for every walk of life.
They have a budget car in the RM30,000 price range (Proton Saga and Proton Iriz), a comfortable sedan in the RM40,000 segment (Proton Persona), a spacious MPV in the RM60,000 range (Proton Exora), a sporty luxury SUV in the RM90,000 range (Proton X70) and the atas luxury sedan in the RM100,000 range (Proton Perdana).
So, if you take a closer look at their stable of vehicles and their price range, you'll notice that there's one price range segment that is missing.
A pat on the back for those of you who can guess what that price range is.
#2 'Not just one segment'
Now, the biggest clue of all is what Dr Li described the Proton X50 as: a challenger in every vehicle segment in Malaysia.So, from that, we can assume that Proton wants the X50 to disrupt the sales of every best-selling vehicle in the country, and it does make sense to price each variant in the price bracket currently being occupied by their competitor.
Here's a quick breakdown:
1) Proton X50 Standard (RM74,800)
Will likely steal sales from: Perodua Myvi, Toyota Yaris
The Perodua Myvi is the best-selling car in Malaysia, so it's understandable that Proton would want to eat a little bit of the Myvi's pie. However, having said that, the highest specced Perodua Myvi is priced at RM52,697, so Proton is hoping that the X50's sporty design and high tech features are enough to sway those thinking of buying the Perodua Myvi into topping up and buying the X50.
2) Proton X50 Executive (RM86,800)
Will likely steal sales from: Toyota Vios, Honda City
Both the Toyota Vios and the Honda City are Malaysian favourites, so it would make sense that Proton challenges the sales of both cars. The only problem Proton will probably encounter when going up against these Japanese brands is the resale value.
3) Proton X50 Premium (RM98,800)
Will likely steal sales from: the new Nissan Almera, the new Honda City RS
The month of October would see a lot of car launches, namely the new Nissan Almera Turbo and the new and improved Honda City RS. Therefore, Proton would be wise to play party crasher with one of their variants, and the Premium variant would do just fine. This would also somehow explain the discrepancy in the specs sheet between the Premium and Executive variants of the Proton X50.
3) Proton X50 Flagship (RM103,800)
Will likely steal sales from: Honda HR-V, Toyota C-HR, Mazda CX-3
This is very likely the segment where the Proton X50 will feast on most. The Proton X50 has been dubbed the 'B-segment killer', and the top-of-the-range Flagship variant will likely steal a lot of sales from the Honda HR-V, the Toyota CH-R and even the Mazda CX-3, thanks to its slew of class-leading features.
#3 Malaysian's spending habits have changed since the MCO
Gone are the days where Malaysians will spend all their hard-earned money on a brand new car.In a survey done by financial website CompareHero where they quizzed Malaysians about how much they're willing to spend on new vehicles especially post-Movement Control Order (MCO), 73 per cent of Malaysians are now opting to buy cars below RM120,000.
In the same survey, it was revealed that the price of the vehicle is the most important factor when one decides to purchase a new vehicle (73.2 per cent).
And here's the most interesting bit: despite a majority of Malaysians prefer buying vehicles below RM60,000 (who can blame them, right?), they do not mind spending between RM71,000 to RM120,000 on a new vehicle - and that is exactly the price range we feel Proton would target for the Proton X50 in 2020.
Price it a little bit too low, it will not justify the tech installed in the X50; price it a little too high, Malaysians will not buy it.
So, the sweet spot should be - yep, you guessed it! - RM74,800 to RM103,800.
There you have it, boys!
Again, we would like to reiterate that the price range we listed above is still not official, and it's purely based on our educated guess.
For all we know, our estimation could be really wrong and Proton decides to make it even cheaper (or even more expensive), so let's just wait for an official announcement from the local carmaker.
What do you guys think? Do you think we made a compelling argument? Do you think the price range we listed above make sense? Sound off in the comment section below.