Lotus Renault GP team pays a visit to Proton

Lotus Renault GP team pays a visit to Proton

The Lotus Renault GP team paid a visit to Proton’s headquarters in Shah Alam today, with the entourage led by LRGP’s managing director and team principal Eric Boullier, accompanied by key representatives of his senior management team.

Joining the visit were the team’s driver Vitaly Petrov and reserve driver Bruno Senna. Also present to represent Group Lotus was its director of corporate affairs, Gino Rosato, and Group Lotus brand ambassador Jean Alesi.

The visit, a follow-up to a trip made by Proton’s senior management team to the LRGP facility in Enstone in the UK earlier this year, provided the Formula One team an insight into the Malaysian car manufacturing industry and underlined a partnership envisioned to extend beyond the realm of F1.

Lotus Renault GP team pays a visit to Proton

The Proton team, headed by managing director Datuk Seri Syed Zainal Abidin, who was accompanied by the Group’s senior management team, gave the LRGP team an exclusive tour around Proton’s Research & Development facilities and the production lines at the main plant.

Syed Zainal said that Proton’s association with LRGP aims to explore mutually and significantly beneficial opportunities. “As partners, it is important to be acquainted about each other’s operations, business strategies and plans. This will also give both parties the opportunity to explore how else we can help each other and benefit from one another,” he said.

He also announced that a select and elite group of Proton’s engineers will soon be joining the LRGP family under an engineer exchange programme designed to facilitate the exchange of knowledge, skills and experience.

Lotus Renault GP team pays a visit to Proton

“Valuable exposure in a specialised environment and the opportunity to be involved in the development of technologically-advanced performance vehicles will significantly strengthen our engineering and technological capabilities, which we would like to see applied and integrated into the future generation of Proton cars,” Syed Zainal said.

“The involvement in F1 has clearly had a strong and positive impact with the handful of car manufacturers that have been involved in the sport since the early fifties. With Group Lotus’s involvement in F1, I’m certain that Proton will reap the rewards of this relationship, not least through technical, engineering and marketing opportunities and as a major business platform too,” Boullier added.

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Anthony Lim

Anthony Lim believes that nothing is better than a good smoke and a car with character, with good handling aspects being top of the prize heap. Having spent more than a decade and a half with an English tabloid daily never being able to grasp the meaning of brevity or being succinct, he wags his tail furiously at the idea of waffling - in greater detail - about cars and all their intrinsic peculiarities here.

 

Comments

  • Pic Neo supercharge please

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  • scorpicore on Apr 07, 2011 at 7:26 pm

    The way forward for PROTON

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  • 4561336 on Apr 07, 2011 at 7:48 pm

    why they no drive satria neo R3 Lotus Renault edition ?

    campro cps Supercharged ~ 175hp and 200Nm of torque

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  • after R3 Lotus will be R3 Renult edition..?? SUPERCHARGE laaaa!!!!! xD

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  • trav_da_man on Apr 07, 2011 at 9:27 pm

    This could be hinting Proton will join the Renault and Nissan Alliance. Even the MOU between Proton and Nissan for rebadging Nissan Fuga for gov officials and sharing the EMAS platform says so……

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  • Fifteen on Apr 07, 2011 at 9:29 pm

    What do they actually think of the Saga?

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  • freeze on Apr 07, 2011 at 9:32 pm

    Wow, the guy in Syed Zainal in the car seems so impressed.

    He was thinking to himself: “Wow, impressive. If only my country could make a wonderful luxurious sports sedan like this. What an awesome machine. Malaysia has the expertise. The rest of the world should learn from them”

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    • Hahaha.. u think too much!!!

      (1) Impressive? – Very subjective, no comment..
      (2) Wonderful? – Nope, but is subjective too..
      (3) luxurious? – Nope, it entry level budget car!
      (4) Sport Sedan? Nope, just a common FF 4-doors saloon!
      (5) awesome machine? – Refer to “campro” engine, @#$%, however is subjective too.. not saying it is poor, so the die hard fan no need to defend anything here..
      (6) expertise? – Yes, majority migrate to foreign country already..
      (7) rest of the world? – emmm… refer to few 3rd world countries only..

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      • CC, please google this word: sarcasm. You’re too lurus bendul, yeah, look it up too.

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  • wc5be168 on Apr 07, 2011 at 9:51 pm

    1 small step from P1, hopefully will be a giant leap for malaysia. hopefully….

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  • ayamxxx on Apr 07, 2011 at 10:33 pm

    why show saga to them??

    they are racer la, show lah some decent car to them

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  • Rockmebaby on Apr 07, 2011 at 11:51 pm

    Both drivers must have never seen so much plastic in their life in such a small place like Proton Saga FL hahaha

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    • taboogen on Apr 08, 2011 at 7:55 am

      hermm you are wrong dude… I was there yesterday when they came in to my office to see the info tech that we have to monitor the cars build up and they were impress.. and about the cars.. what do u think they are driving carbon fibre engineered car.. don’t lat compare F1 driver with you… dumb ass

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      • don’t la marah boss… the drivers have been inside other sedans too and they’ve seen enough leather and polished wood, plastic even.. your plactics are good also la… erm.

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    • Fact is the Saga is a budget car… What do you expect? Alcantara and wilton wool carpeting?

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      • student on Apr 08, 2011 at 12:33 pm

        do u know the cost of a SAGA can buy what car in the duty free market??

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        • tiadaid on Apr 08, 2011 at 2:18 pm

          20K? Not much cars in 20K region.

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        • autojohndoe on Apr 08, 2011 at 5:48 pm

          how about you bring the saga cost, to UK maybe, try to live there and buy car…

          then, maybe we’ll understand

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          • Unforgiven on Apr 11, 2011 at 12:08 pm

            Proton is there in the UK to remind everyone that there are better cars to choose from…

            Read about Proton in topgear UK then you’ll understand…

            Truly awful/ Walk away…

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  • confused on Apr 08, 2011 at 8:47 am

    DSZ is his signature black jacket.. much like Steve Jobs’ black turtle neck lol..

    Congratz Proton. Show the world who really DESERVE the Lotus legacy.

    p/s: LRGP poses in Saga as marketing strategy to attract more young buyer or family who needs small sedan.. 2cent..

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  • So, F1 technology transfer for Proton… exciting times ahead.. you wish.

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  • tokmoh on Apr 08, 2011 at 10:03 am

    There’s a Proton logo below the sidepod on the display car at Pavilion, I spotted it while watching the Red Bull’s Speed Street demo (David Coulthard was driving the RBR F1 car during that demo)

    http://yfrog.com/gy7jgdij

    Can anyone confirm if it’s also on the real car?

    Anyway, the Satria Neo supercharge looks interesting… hope to see it tested by paultan writer(s) soon :)

    All the best for Sepang race, Petrov, Heidfeld, and Lotus-Renault! :D

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  • Hafidz on Apr 08, 2011 at 11:17 am

    Ok laa..technology transfers will not happen in 1day..be patient a bit, dont kan-chung too much…be realistic..

    Still remember the 1st time they tag with Lotus, it takes 1year ++ for them to study and implement the technology transfer to our very own Satria GTi and truly it becomes worth in terms of investment..and how much different they can offer compare to Proton Putra which almost the same spec but without Lotus handling..nowdays we can enjoy better ride quality in Proton ( I mean ride quality, not those power window and so on..) ..In fact Lotus was not good too in other areas except their chasis engineering, lightweight technology and ride quality..

    My friends are there in the R&D design department, and i saw tonnes of good design and direction for Proton for years to come..but its all back to Malaysian people like you guys, we cannot have so much things to ask for a ‘affordable-nicely design’ cars like VW from them..back to basics, we need volumes to make cost of producing things cheaper..but how much volumes dat Proton can sell within Malaysia market and small market elsewhere?

    eg: if prediction start cost of 5,000,000 Honda Civic sold worldwide, cost of making stupid air-cond button will become RM0.001 cent each (for mould and material cost) but if Proton with prediction 300,000 Waja sales volume, the cost for each button will cost RM0.10 maybe?..(this is one simpel scenario)

    So we hope by partnering with Renault, we can have a long list of good quality cars in years to come..in fact,the 1st try and error project with Renault was actually WAJA 1.8 and WIRA 2.0D back then..if you guys still remember..Proton-renault is like an ol frens now in the same office with same direction..

    Just to note that i hope, Proton engineers will change those screw types from IKEA hex allen nut type to our standard hexa bolt or philips screw heads for engine bay..at least our roadside workshop still can repair the engine..not as complicated as WAJA 1.8 engine screws..thats the least i hope they can..

    Plus, by joining this Renault..at least Proton can share a Global Chasis program which 1 chasis will be shared among the group with different exterior and interior outlook..like what happen to Mazda-Ford, Audi-VW-Skoda-Suzuki, FIAT-Chrysler and so on..so it will be cheap to kick start a new car project rather than spend so much time in chasis development, chasis rigidity testing, crash test and so on..

    I know DSZ was and always be an engineer with his good profile background..and he will decide a good future for Proton too..i bet he got balls to slam those profit-thinking marketing people for a good reason of ‘building good cars and good design to people’

    i always have a sweet spot for my previous Satria GTi and Satria Neo for their good design and their good engineering characteristics..bet they gonna come up with a good hot hatch soon! :) sure i’ll get one..

    *dont bash Proton so much, after all they are proudly Malaysian..bash for the good deeds, not to demoralized them with Milo cans and so on..sometimes its too much to say without knowing the real facts..

    cheers! :D

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  • student on Apr 08, 2011 at 12:35 pm

    what happen if PROTON pay a visit to RENAULT..

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  • Lim Kopi on Apr 09, 2011 at 2:00 am

    I wonder what these people really think when they sit inside the Proton cars ….

    ” Oh my, what a load of crap …. the finishing sucks …. eh wait, can’t be too honest here… dont wanna offend Syed Zainal so will praise a little bit so I probably tell him …. Hmmm quite good!”

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  • When they go back to the hotel must say what the xxx is that?!so plastic and Tin Milo!wahaha

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  • monada76 on Apr 11, 2011 at 10:38 am

    Why most of us are so depressing, negative… No optimism, positive and forward thinking comments (really few)…

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