Shanghai (ZXZC)- Proton, a Malaysia’s national carmaker backed by Geely Holding Group, sold 7,011 new vehicles in April, gaining a year-on-year surge of 73.5% and a month-on-month jump of 14.1%, according to a press release from Geely’s official WeChat account. 

The latest sales performance made the company ascend to the runner-up place by new car monthly sales in Malaysia with its market share growing to 13.6%.

For the first four months of the year, the automaker saw the year-to-date sales soar 50.7% over a year earlier to 25,453 units. 

The Proton X70, the first model jointly developed by Geely and Proton, was still the besting-selling SUV model in this country with its Jan.-Apr. sales totaling 11,133 units. 

Last month, at the second Belt and Road Forum for International Cooperation held in Beijing, Malaysia’s Prime Minister Dr. Mahathir witnessed the exchange of agreements between Proton with Pakistan’s Al-Haj Automotive Group to build a new complete knock-down kit assembly plant in Karachi, Pakistan

According to the agreement between Proton and Al-Haj, the new plant will be built on a greenfield site with an initial investment of USD30 million. Within the next three years, the cooperation between the two parties will directly create 2,000 new jobs in the local area and over 20,000 new jobs for supporting industries.

Meanwhile, Proton and China Construction Bank also exchanged financing documents which will let Proton receive a 1.88 Billion MYR (3.1 Billion RMB) loan for further R&D and infrastructure development.