The Proton Persona be on sale in Proton UK dealerships from the end of March 2008 onwards, and it will be called the Proton GEN-2 Persona in the UK market. There is only one variant sold there, which comes with front and rear power windows, a MP3/CD integrated head unit with 4 speakers, dual SRS airbags, and antilock brakes.
The 5-speed manual version goes for £10,795, while the 4-speed automatic goes for £11,595. The GEN2 hatchback goes for exactly £200 more expensive for both the manual and auto models. There is currently a promotion offering £1,000 off the list price for the GEN-2 Persona.
The UK-bound Persona is likely to come with the new 1.6 litre Campro IAFM engine which made its Malaysian debut in the mid-line GEN2 facelift. Word is that the Malaysian market Persona is also available with IAFM now, evident from Proton taking up advertising in major newspapers, but the PR department has not released an official announcement yet, so let’s wait for that as it would be better for us to have confirmed details on exact pricing, and availability.
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Let’s just hope that it will be well recieved in the UK. But why Gen 2 Persona? Just Persona will do. Wonder what will Jeremy Clarkson think.
This time JC will shut his mount up! Let’s see how the british will give their comment about PERSONA now.
Persona is a very popular brand of female contraceptive in the UK market thats why I think Proton need to add Gen2 to the name
It is the market who will determine how good Persona is. JC is just an entertainer. Most of the cars he recommends is not available or affordable to the local people.
I hope Proton can retain the current price of Persona when they release the IAFM equipped Persona. Its the most affordable & well-made C-segment 1.6L sedan at RM45K. I would salute Proton if they managed to reduce the costs involved, and price the Persona IAFM affordably at the current levels.
As for the UK market, the mat sallehs are very particular on driving refinement, brand image, resale value and practicality. I don’t think Persona is going to sell well despite the low pricing. Proton should focus this car for the Asean, China, Taiwan & Middle East market. And in the future, possibly the American continent too.
Why don’t they just keep it simple and call it the Persona Mk2? The GEN-2 is the Persona 5 door after all. It was supposed to replace the Wira (persona mk1) after all.
Now we can wait for the Euro NCAP…… lets see how it does, I seriously hope for Proton to do better than the Impian’s 3 stars (Our local Waja probably does even worst). Its seems 4 stars is the bare minimum nowadays.
Are Malaysians just overly sensitive? JC is funny. Some people just can’t take a joke.
Its going to be tough for Proton nontheless. Even without JC poking fun at proton. However in fact, Top gear does quite like the Gen-2. THe only thing they were not too happy with it is the interior quality. In UK, Proton does not enjoy the price protection they get here, which means heavy discounts and promotions which is hell on depreciation. The price difference between Proton and the Koreans are not very significant and for a few quid more, you can get a heavily discounted new-old-stock German.
In the previous season of top gear, JC complained about the beeping sound from the key ignition of the honda civic hatchback ( as i can remember ). WTH man, this feature is okay. nothing to complain about. If he complains about Honda’s feature, what about this persona?
i think the branding itself (gen2 persona) was chosen as to make the market aware that instead of sedan(persona) there is a hatchback(gen2).
also, with the same family(gen2), it is only up to their preferences whether to buy the sedan or opt for the hatchback.
Viel Glück Proton! :)
Good luck 2 them..hehe
I wonder when the saga blm be launched in Aus and uk..
Paul, I have been informed by Proton sales person (Proton dealership in Bdr Country Homes, Rawang) that Persona is now only available with IAFM. Price will increase by RM800 to RM1000. Current stock Persona will be sold until sold out (while stock last). No news yet on whether Proton will come out with Persona CPS! I do hope there will be a persona CPS.
looking forward to another bollocking review from the strict UK motoring press
i wondering whether British will buy this car because they have plenty of choice and this car is priced quite high espacially in UK market. with this amount of money, they can buy Toyota, VW, or even Renault. but very well done for proton because they managed to export to UK market within one year after the car was launched. i saw many personal in singapore road…
i wanna see how good dis car will be over there…
‘The 5-speed manual version goes for £10,795, while the 4-speed automatic goes for £11,595’
wow, thats almost RM80k if we do a direct forex calculation…my uncle said in UK, people’s perception towards Proton is still relatively low. They dont care bout the quality so much, for them the brand come first…
even malaysian dont buy Proton there (ya la, since u r staying oversea why the heck u wanna buy Proton samo..)
how is the trend of people buying cars over there?
i mean, do they look for any accesories like satnavs, bling bling factors, or good rim designs?
or they are more or less the same like us – look at the pricings?
because whatever trend there, proton should do notice what factor that really sells car there.
never been into or drive a persona, but they say the cabin is well insulated. and the ride is quite comfy. better than waja.
When can proton penetrate the US? As least the US journalist & consumers are less strict than the Brits.
Persona IAFM is already up on Proton Edar website. open for booking already. rather sadly, no Persona CPS.
no wonder Proton already exports Persona to UK. getting rid of old Persona so that Malaysians could enjoy a better Persona =)
I wouldn’t say the Uk motoring press are strict – more snobby and label conscious really. They have to write in a way that appeals to the sort of person who reads car magazines… not unnecessarily your average family car buyer.
Talking as a brit i’d say that in any car market there’s always going to be differences in who looks for what. i.e.:
– young professional, no family: will be looking for brand & status, sporty
– family with kids: space, low running costs, low depreciation
– First time drivers: low insurance, low running costs
– older drivers: cheap to buy, reliable, more likely to purchase new with good warranty backup
There are a few big differences between the UK car market and here:
– Insurance costs are MASSIVE, especially for anyone below 25 years. Price varies with make & model of car, engine size / power, risk of theft, previous driving history but more importantly where you live too. For young people insurance cost is often more than the value of the car itself. Less of an issue as you get older.
– The depreciation curve of cars is much steeper in UK. They will lose far more of their value in the first 3 years of use than here. As such the average person buys second hand, not new. Manufacturers can increase new car sales by including long warranty & service deals (useful if the brand doesnt have good reliability reputation), or include free insurance for a year. A high number of new sales are to company fleets & hire fleets.
I’d say Proton’s strengths in the UK market would be it’s good warranty & service backup, low insurance costs, reasonable size car for the money. Weaknesses would be poorer image (still a big problem there, even Skoda is still not seen as a good brand even though it’s basically a VW under the skin), poor build quality, high depreciation rate. Their image in UK I would say is a car for retirees who don’t care about image, don’t car if it depreciates as they’re not going to sell it on, and want a new car for reliability.
It will sell but there is stiff competition, most notably the ford focus at similar price. For reference, a quick look on autotrader.co.uk, for the same money as the Persona you could buy:
New –
Peugeot 308, 307, etc
Suzuki Grand Vitara 1.6
VW Polo
Renault Megane, Scenic, Clio
Ford Focus
Vauxhall Vectra, Astra
Mazda 3
Skoda Octavia
Honda Jazz
2nd Hand –
Alfa Romeo GT Coupe 2.0 (2005)
Audi TT 1.8T Quattro (2000)
BMW 318 Coupe (2003)
BMW M3 Evo (1997)
Honda Accord 2.2 (2005), Civic Type-R 2.0 (2005)
Jaguar X-type 2.5 V6 (2004)
Mercedes C180K (2004)
Porsche Boxster 2.7 (2001)
having said that, I wouldn’t be able to afford the insurance & running costs on most of those!
As an aside it would be good to see ABS and dual airbags installed on all protons here, not just the export models. They should really be standard.
Oh and also having a turbodiesel engine would really help sales. Fuel prices in UK ridiculous (Rm7/L), very high TD sales these days.
Gen-2 got both CPS and IAFM. Persona got IAFM. next would be Neo’s turn. i think Neo would definitely be fitted with CPS because it’s a performance car. guess many people are waiting for that.
when these cars are exported overseas, especially to UK, i bet Proton would get better reviews. the main concern for UK journalists so far are the cheap interior and the performance. since latest cars from Proton are rather well-built, that would solve the interior problem. CPS and IAFM would solve the latter problem.
about the American journalists.. i’ve read a review somewhere by an American journalist about Gen-2. not a good one. he says something like “can’t believe Lotus’s parent could still make such an ugly car”. i was so offended because i firmly believe that latests Proton’s cars (Gen-2, Persona, Neo, new Saga) are rather good looking for their price. comparing to Ford or Chevrolet with similar price tags, i would choose Proton. i think that guy just being ignorant. seriously, American cars are very dull looking (except for the expensive ones of course).
Persona needs to fights with Ford Focus, Mazda 3 and Honda Jazz?.. oh my..
Neo has a rather good reputation there. just fit in CPS and lower the seat, and export them to the UK ASAP. i think Neo CPS would have a good chance of surviving. even Top Gear website says it’s rather good looking. and Neo also the only Malaysian car that was given 2 stars by the Fifth Gear website. others just got one star. sad
Hahaha! I agree about american cars – looks are all down to taste, I find american cars generally ugly, bloated.
Also agree on the Neo comments Joe – yes if they could get a Neo GTi in the UK market it would do well (at the right price), the Satria GTi was well liked, and the Neo is a handsome car.
Folks, we cannot fit the CPS unit into Neo’s engine bay. The CPS unit was not calculated into Neo’s design due to different ‘management’ people during design stage. This is what was informed to us in a different thread.
This means, unless the engine bay is redesigned, NO CPS FOR NEO! that’s what’s been heard through the grapevine la..
izit bcos the neo has 3 engine mountings only compare to waja/gen2 4 point mounting??
otherwise space wise its the same….space cant be the reason
dangermouse said,
Oh and also having a turbodiesel engine would really help sales. Fuel prices in UK ridiculous (Rm7/L), very high TD sales these days.
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well the cost of living there is different, lets compare it with their monthly earnings.. let say £2k compared to malaysia, MYR2k. our petrol price is almost RM2/L while theyre still at £1/L. so still cheaper compared to msia.
anyway, hope they have a good sales in the UK, so we can see new models from proton soon.
Well that’s what ferruccio, one of our members said. We’ll have to confirm that with any of Proton’s designers that reads this forum… I guess we’ll get an answer soon. They’re always reading Paul’s forum.
Yeah, don’t worry about UK journos.. Even some Aston Martins are no good to them. Their expectations are really high. JC even calls MPV owners brain dead people.
Hmmm well done proton… I just hope tht this model will do well in the UK market…
Anyway i also hope that Proton will enter the American market soon in the future…
Hi Guys!
Mukhri88 :-
I dont know where u heard that from, but thats totally WRONG!!! BULLSHIT! Hahahahaha….sorry for sounding abit harsh. The NEO can take in the CPS engine perfectly without any chasis/body mod. There are 2 cars (Neo) in Powertrain Proton where it was fitted with the CPS engine, one manual and the other auto. The mounting is the same with the normal CAMPRO. IF the normal campro can be fitted into the NEO, then the CPS has no problem going into NEO. I can say that, the CPS trully works well in the NEO, taking into account the weight, the design, the looks of the car and also the performance of the CPS.
Cheers!!!
Thanks for the comment, si-fu.
So when will the Neo CPS be launched?
And, if possible, can u provide some comments on the supercharged Campro?
yay!! si-fu is back!
now, im waiting for paul to test drive persona IAFM.
mockviper said,
March 11, 2008 @ 5:12 pm
dangermouse said,
Oh and also having a turbodiesel engine would really help sales. Fuel prices in UK ridiculous (Rm7/L), very high TD sales these days.
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well the cost of living there is different, lets compare it with their monthly earnings.. let say £2k compared to malaysia, MYR2k. our petrol price is almost RM2/L while theyre still at £1/L. so still cheaper compared to msia.
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then let say MYR2k compared to indonesia RUpiah2k. wow 99% indonesian are millionaire…hehhehe
only 2 airbags??? how to pass the side crash test?
first of all…top gear is sucks…very unreliable source…a comedy program and useless information…jeremy clarkson is only a comedian or maybe more worse then a clown.
back to the topic…hope persona will doing well at uk market….agree with some of u…persona is the smart looking c segment car…hope its can touch uk people heart like it touch our heart…hope the CPS version of persona will in the market soon…good luck p1
then let say MYR2k compared to indonesia RUpiah2k. wow 99% indonesian are millionaire…hehhehe
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i was talking about monthly earning of RM2k here, std pay check and £2k at uk. does 2k rupiah even exist? lol…
i prefer Richard Hamond to test drive and comment instead of JC!
What about Fifth Gear?
They also post many great review as some found in youtube…..
chap_de_x said,
March 11, 2008 @ 8:42 pm
hope its can touch uk people heart like it touch our heart
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MAybe they should name it as Persona MH edition.
MH – Malaysian Hospitality
There is 2k rupiah. Their smallest note is Rp 1000.
Yay, Neo CPS…
Everybody forgets James May. For some time I thought he’s related to the lead guitar for Queen.
I would say James May would do the review. He’s more down to earth person. More practical kinda guy. He’s so adorable in a clumsy sort of way. Remember the White Van Challenge and he was in the LDV? What a riot. Never a dull moment.
Unless you live in Norfolk
pOckeTbOcoR said,
March 11, 2008 @ 12:44 pm
‘The 5-speed manual version goes for £10,795, while the 4-speed automatic goes for £11,595′
wow, thats almost RM80k if we do a direct forex calculation
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Can teach me how u calculate?
Try www.xe.com its like kinda in between buy and sell prices
persona touch our heart. chap de x….you are the clown. cant stop laughing at that comment.
i prefer JC to test drive thing. he says what most of us are really thinking but are not willing to express it in the real world. this forms the basis which is why top gear connects very well with the average car consumer or enthusiast. that i think is what makes jc, hammond and captain slow stand out from other car journalists who are usually inclined to say good things once a company gives them a car to test drive. three of them are just a representation of variations of car consumers.
i like jc comment…i follow his program since early 90s n really satisfied with his comment…ya…maybe u will c most of the cars he tested on bbc top gear is a sport car or supercar…but…if u want to review on his comment on the daily cars…jz surf to d topgear website…
i agree wit topgunthang…i think chap de x…u didnt gt wut he wants to tell us n u dun understand or u cannot facing the truth wut he comment abt d car u like…maybe…
fifth gear is good oso but i still prefer topgear all d time…last week episode on fifth gear..they tested the nissan gtr n jason plato like it so much…
ooppss…sori…last 2 week…last week tiff drove the lexus is-f…
pOckeTbOcoR said,
March 11, 2008 @ 12:44 pm
‘The 5-speed manual version goes for £10,795, while the 4-speed automatic goes for £11,595′
wow, thats almost RM80k if we do a direct forex calculation…my uncle said in UK, people’s perception towards Proton is still relatively low. They dont care bout the quality so much, for them the brand come first…
even malaysian dont buy Proton there (ya la, since u r staying oversea why the heck u wanna buy Proton samo..)
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I know some friends of my that have study in UK bought Proton Car there… then even one of my friend bring that car here in Malaysia (ori UK spec car, huhu) .. mind what u say bro:D
Thnx si-fu for clarifying that Neo CAN be fitted wit CPS. My, my, I wonder which Proton basher spread that rumor ah?
Regarding TG, well, thing is, I feel that there are truth behind the jokes they always make. As topgunthang puts it, we’re only lying to ourselves if we’re dismissing their opinion. Come on, is there anyone out there who’d actually think an Alfa is ugly? Or Toyota is a passionately-built car? No right? It’s just bcuz they happen to tell the truth, that’s what puts them into troubles all the time.
What made TG stand out from any other given car show is that they touch on car matters more than what can be read on technical spec paper. Let’s be honest: that is anytime more entertaining, and it means you dun have to be a car enthusiast at all to understand it. I mean seriously, would you rather hear those 3 clowns go all Shakespeare about (let’s say, although I know not all of them are Ferrari fanboy) Ferrari’s history, founder, the philosophy of making it, some interesting incident that happened while developing it etc, or hear grouses by Tiff Needell on fuh, I dunno, let’s say on how the new M3 is too fat to be a trackday king?
Hey, what happened to our avatar?!?!?! Is Gravatar down currently?
hmmm…according to si-fu, CPS already fitted in Neo…soon it will in market soon…good!!
hey topgunthang that wut i think about the show…if u like the show so much go watch it… don,t expect u accept my opinion…its just an opinion..can u just respect it…why personally attack me…is JC is your relative…persona not touch our heart??…If not all malaysian at least some of us think it more beautiful and smart then its rival in c segment car.that why its sell well…mayb its not touch yours but many touched with this car..is all of them is clown…TG maybe is entertaining but to get a good test review or comment about a car, TG is the worst…better watch fifth gear or read Paul blog over here…if u want entertaiment go for TG is u want real fact go to other source…its just my opinion…if u dont agree i really dun care…go defend JC but dont personnaly atack someone that dont agree with u…
I really want to know the NCAP rating for the Persona…good or bad, I guess it will still sell like hot cakes in Malaysia.
The paranoia is really building up in here and I fail to see a reason for it to be. Why are you people calculating the currency exchange of the Persona’s sticker price over in the United Kingdom?
Of course it would cost more, you didn’t expect them to pay less than 10,000 GBP did you? That would cancel out the other cheaper models such as the Savvy and miscellaneous Proton models.
Secondly, I don’t see why some people get riled up over Jeremy Clarkson and Top Gear when they haven’t even touched or mentioned the car. If your faith in the car is so strong, you would not be phased by his words or actions unless……you’re afraid you might be wrong the whole time.
Like someone stated above, a car is only as good as the market perceives it to be. If it triumphs, it triumphs but if it bombs then it just bombs lah. Don’t keep kicking a dead horse hoping your dreams will come true.
Currently, judging from the market trends it seems that turbo-diesels, fuel economy and large sized mpv’s are all the rage over there. So style and power have been played down as they really are more conscious about spending on fuel nowadays.
Also, most people over there stick to one brand as long as it serves them well. Customer loyalty really does pay off in the end for car manufacturers over there.
Top Gear is great entertainment. That is all it is.
And if you are a Malaysian living overseas, why on Earth would you want to buy a Proton when you can have a Subaru, Mazda, VW or Ford?
If the Persona is competing against the Ford Focus, Mazda 3 and VW Golf, I know which car I would buy.
Hint: not the Proton.
petulance said,
March 13, 2008 @ 7:38 am
And if you are a Malaysian living overseas, why on Earth would you want to buy a Proton when you can have a Subaru, Mazda, VW or Ford?
If the Persona is competing against the Ford Focus, Mazda 3 and VW Golf, I know which car I would buy.
Hint: not the Proton.
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-so.. what you waiting for? getting this for yourself… why you make noise here.. we don’t care wheather you buy Ford or Mazda or VW… $#@%$…
petulance said,
March 13, 2008 @ 7:38 am
And if you are a Malaysian living overseas, why on Earth would you want to buy a Proton when you can have a Subaru, Mazda, VW or Ford?
If the Persona is competing against the Ford Focus, Mazda 3 and VW Golf, I know which car I would buy.
Hint: not the Proton.
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If you don’t like Proton, why making noise here? Obviously you’re just a nuisance which bashes Proton with your pointless views!