Proton Cars (UK) has made two more franchise appointments this month, bringing the number of new dealers this year to almost 30.

The two new franchisees are Main Road Garages in County Durham and by Vale Motors at Wincanton in Somerset.

Proton recorded a 34% rise in new car registrations in September. The Malaysian manufacturer registered 560 units last month, boosting cumulative sales for the year to just short of 3,000 cars, up over 8% on the first nine months of 2000. The new Proton Impian saloon achieved 100 registrations last month.

“Our new dealers are clearly making a difference”, said Simon Fisher, network planning manager at the Bristol-based importer. “We expect to reap further dividends next year as we ramp up our recruitment programme to put the network back where it belongs.”

aggressive dealer recruitment campaign, designed to push the number of franchises to 160 by the end of the year.

Proton is undertaking an aggressive dealer recruitment campaign, designed to push the number of franchises from 120 to 160 by the end of the year. There have been 27 new appointments so far in 2001 and Proton's current network size is 127.