new low end lotus? another lousy design or copycat design from malaysia local car? sigh… why!!!!…. looks like Proton oredi run out of idea to create design of car. When the new design come out then all other proton car price will drop again… hahaha…

Agree with kanasai, quality and fuel consumptions is more concern due to fuel price rise and global warming nowaday.

proton do not need practical idea or solution from the user as it is their job to think of a solution n not from us. for 20 years and proton still cannot have a solution to their problem n req our help is total shameful. we, the user only knows how to complain cause this is everything as consumer we can do. even we give feedbacks, the problem still exists and never solve in the end from proton.

about the low end lotus.. ask your self who needs a low end lotus in Malaysia and especially on Malaysia road! and i do not understand why honda term some of us as blind basher cause the fact is that proton is going for a plan to produce low end lotus which is not what we want.

the MD pointed out many other good points and plans but that’s just talking. look what happen to TUV? looks like no news when proton talk about improving QC. last year, TUV is hot on the topic and on the radio and give us a new blind promise but still, no QC improvement overall.

And may I know which proton model consider a budget car comparable with Vios and City? A budget car to us means affordable car price with minimum safety feature and low or no defects at all in everything. And I m referring to a budget sedan car for family with low petrol consumption.

And talking about low petrol consumptions, which proton model has even lower compare with Vios n City?

as usual, we are always complaining, its a malaysian trait i think. we complain, and complain, because we claim its our right, but do nothing else about it. I think it would be a lot better for everyone, if we contribute practical ideas and solutions to a problem, rather than ranting and raving about it all the time.

“low end lotus? we need a decent car such as Vios or City or a budget car with low petrol consumption”

You are just looking from a very narrow viewpoint of what protons md said. If any of you had read the report in entirety, the “low end lotus” was just one of many different points he brought up. He mentioned changing the company from the inside out. all the way from R&D, plant worker, vendors, to sales and distribution. Not just mentality, but business processes..etc. I think before you comment, you should show that you actually know what you’re talking about. There used to be a term that was used in this forum before, its called the ‘blind basher’. Sadly, i think its not used enough in the forum nowadays.

Btw, doesnt proton already have a budget car, that has better fuel consumption than the vios and city?

If all else fails, and we still hate proton, go buy another car then, i did.

I feel your pain. I had my first taste of Proton “quality” back in 1993 when I bought my first car. I’ve had 5 Protons since then and I know what you’re talking about because I too, am fed-up with their quality. That’s why I don’t own one now and neither does anyone in my family. I’m sure if you could afford it, you wouldn’t want one too.

And that’s the whole issue here, isn’t it? All this while, we’ve been forced to accept this situation because of national policy and govt. protectionism and it’s finally taken it’s toll on Proton. They have, for the first time, acknowledged their poor quality in public. That’s a huge admission for any car manufacturer to make and such statements will definitely have an impact on their share prices. Don’t forget, what is published in our papers will also be picked up by the foreign press and you can be sure it will affect their international markets as well.

But this blog isn’t about Proton’s quality, it’s about Lotus/Proton coming out with a new sports car. The debate should be, do we need one? And what about the quality? And what about their current quality issues and how it relates to their performance in the future? Let’s talk about that and see if we can enlighten each other.

I see, soo why CAMPRO did not finish with CPS? Because not enough budget??
If Design is ok why the part@material and most important quality is not up to standard???
The LOTUS itself is a legend in motorsport…why proton dont use their standard in producing cars?????
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I think Marmitrab has answered most of your question .

I’m replying to your original queries to why Lotus was not utilised by Proton when in truth they are.

Maybe not to the extent it would please you but Lotus Engineering as a business entity needs to charge their clients for any developemnt work.

And anyone with a rough idea what a car developement cost may entail will understand it is not cheap.

Do some more research, my friend, read up in The Edge etc , Auto mags Industry mags etc if you truly want to undertstand the business.

You need to know that in order for Proton to use the same production standards as Lotus, the cars would be too expensive for us to afford because Lotus is an engineering company and from an engineering point of view, they’d rather use the higer quality components. But from a mass manufacturing point of view, someone like Proton would need to use lower quality parts to make the cars more affordable/improve their profit margin.

Lotus has done a few things for Proton but it’s not really much. If you see the kind of thing they do for other car companies, you’d know they are capable of so much more. However, there are 2 reasons I can think of as to why they don’t do more for Proton.

1. Although Proton owns the company, they probably have a supplier/customer relationship and Lotus, being a business entity by itself will need to charge Proton for their services and Proton can only afford so much. Nobody will do contract jobs for free. Large car companies like Ford can probably pay Lotus more for bigger jobs like engine development.

2. Proton does not know what to do with Lotus. Having a sports car model does wonders for the manufacturers reputation in the market, albeit it’s in smaller numbers. Eg. Nissan 350Z is selling in relatively small numbers compared to the Sentra/X-Trail, etc. but having the 350Z is a huge boon to Nissan’s reputation. To me, Proton is more of a bread and butter kind of manufacturer, selling budget cars and people movers. At least, that’s what they should be doing. Not focusing on sports cars.

With that, I agree with goingberserk. Focus on cars the people want. See the numbers of SUV’s/MPV’s on the roads and you’ll know what the people want. And none of that Juara nonsense either, please. Malaysians have a bit of taste.

Thats the original proton spirit before TM mess them up with his rally idea.

I think I just did mentioned that. Lotus is UTILISED for many things not just Ride & Handling.

eg Engine developement. CAMPRO, in case you don’t know is an ENGINE.

Design-wise Lotus did the styling for SGTi.

Please read my post carefully.

I see, soo why CAMPRO did not finish with CPS? Because not enough budget??
If Design is ok why the part@material and most important quality is not up to standard???
The LOTUS itself is a legend in motorsport…why proton dont use their standard in producing cars?????

What’s the point having low end sports car with high petrol consumption!!
Honda and Toyota will one day bring in hybrid cars to our country or even electric car in masses.

Why stupid proton always have the wrong plan looking at the fact that petrol is rising.

The G will not increase our petrol only for this year, imagine if oil increase up to 85 USD per barrel for the year 2008. Can we think the G will not follow?

Proton, pls la. Use a little bit of brains thinking of the future trend!! Ai yo, our national car really make everyone sakit kepala when we are FORCE to buy HIGH petrol consumption car in the future.

Hello superman,
What all people here want to say IS HOW STUPID DUMP PROTON DID NOT FULLY UTILIZE LOTUS FOR ALL ASPECT in building a CAR not ONLY HANDLING fxxtor….grrrr
Yeah I goingberserk and SHUT DOWN our wallet from give to S…T CAR.. the money that we could buy NEW CIVIC 2.0…
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Uh, Hillmax,

I think I just did mentioned that. Lotus is UTILISED for many things not just Ride & Handling.

eg Engine developement. CAMPRO, in case you don’t know is an ENGINE.

Design-wise Lotus did the styling for SGTi.

Please read my post carefully.

I think he’s got some realistic goals. Proton’s QC is bad and he’s addressing that. Proton has too many suppliers, and he’s also addressing that. Now, he’s making a statement to fully utilize Proton’s sports car making subsidiary, Lotus, to make low-end sports cars.

Okay what. Not a bad idea. I give him my support and hope he doesn’t mess it up. You think he can change the whole of Proton overnight? Dream on. Come back in a years time, and I bet you there’ll be improvements in Proton, overall.

Yet,
G is going AGAINST rakyats VOICES?!

may be Pak L will heed us,
And truly practice “WORK with ME” motto,
together,
for better rakyat-CAR-life!
on next chance.
(esp. as the oldMAN is EXIT.)

As to bringing Lotus Engineers and Expertise here. They already are, for quite some years too.

Mathew,

You are reffering to Bob Hall I believe part of MX-5/Miata Project Management.

I dunno what the MX-5 club thinks, but in the investment community the general belief is he wasn’t brought in to do Gen2 door handles.

It looks like Proton has still not really changed its ways. Looking for easy answer in a world of tough ones.

There is only two choices for Proton to work and that is either give up on the NEP agenda (fire most local vendor and change managers) or the car. One or the other has to go.

I hope this is not a silly rumour to instill hope that Proton is going to produce a Lotus car for real. Who knows? We might just end up with another Proton with “Lotus handling” stamped on it.

Lets not get ahead of ourselves. My ideal Lotus/Proton car would be made of Rm1.00 ice cream sticks as the chassis, pandan leaf for the panels, windshields made from a lot of superglue and interior made out of crappy creaky materials.

We deserve better!!! Why don’t you just reduce the tax so we can actually afford the REAL Lotus Elise instead of some crappy watered-down rebadge!!