Jumbuck Popular Down Under

Sometimes you find out that consumers in different countries have different tastes. Relating to cars, the Mitsubishi Town Box was quite popular in Japan but the Proton Juara (based on the Town Box) was a total failure in Malaysia.

Launched in 2003, the Proton Arena two seater pick-up or utility vehicles is Proton's first entry into the light commercial vehicle market. Criticism upon criticism was heaped upon it when it first came out in Malaysia and sales are still negligible here. "A wira with the back cut off," my friends used to call it. However, in Australia it is a different story. The Jumbuck as the Arena is known here, has seen sales up 57 percent for the first six months of 2005 compared with the same period last year. According to Proton Cars Australia managing director, John Startari, the Jumbuck "is the foundation stone for the future growth of Proton in Australia...".

Read Aussie reviews here and here..
BTW, Jumbuck is sheep in Aussie slang.

Comments

Anonymous said…
its only popular because its a cheap alternative to the heavy gas guzzlers these aussies are used to. However that would change soon once Holden or the koreans think that market segment is viable enough to design a model or a few to fill the gap and actually do it. sure....you might be able to sell about 1000 jumbucks in a year(and thats being extremely optimistic to the point of ignorance). How much is that gonna make you. and what happens when competition picks up? esp with holden sourcing korean cars now instead of the usual European cars. im sure daewoo and hyundai are more capable to do that at a cheaper price to the buyer as well as a significantly higher profit margin. and esp if they badge it under holden which aussies are always suckered into buying.
Dilip Mutum said…
I doubt that Korean cars can be produced under the Holden brand. It is quite funny that Holden is considered Australian because it is actually owned by General Motors.

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