We’re here at Proton’s Centre of Excellence along the KESAS for a simple ceremony, where Proton has just presented world number one badminton player Datuk Lee Chong Wei a Proton Inspira in recognition of his accomplishments in the sport. Lee was handed the mock key by Proton chairman, Datuk Seri Mohd Nadzmi, who is also the Badminton Association of Malaysia (BAM) president.
Lee, who is known to own a Nissan GT-R, among other vehicles, will be using the Inspira 2.0P as his “official transport” to badminton events, so we hear. Of the four colours, Lee chose black. Proton Group MD Datuk Seri Syed Zainal joked that he had promised Lee a Proton for quite some time – so maybe LCW was holding out for the Inspira!
“Our contribution to badminton goes beyond brand building, but working together with BAM, it underlines our commitment to seeing badminton in Malaysia continue to excel for many future generations to come,” said Syed Zainal. Proton first supported the sport 16 years ago in 1995, when it was entrusted by the government to act as corporate custodian under the Sports Partnership Programme.
World No. 1 Lee is the reigning back-to-back All England champion. This year, he won his seventh consecutive Proton Malaysian Open title. He won a silver medal in the 2008 Olympics in Beijing.
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lucky him! eventhough he has Nissan GT-R, well, he got a car for free. who doesn’t want that?!
he will sell that, and take the money to put petrol
nope, LCW is obliged by contract to keep and use the car accordingly.
same goes to siti nurhaliza who won a Kia Optima some 4-5 years back. heck, she could afford a Merc CLS… but she did kept the Kia and let her staff used it.
We also have DLCW Sports Arena too…
How do you know?
To me, I think he will feel too bad to own it. I agree he may have contract bound him from selling it. I believe he will just keep it there and use it very rarely, or even let his staff use it.
Too low class for him actually.. Shameful to use it or even to own it.
Dato’ LCW is a high class man and has a high class mentality………… dont downgrade him with ur class comment
very true. met him once in an official function months back, just cant believe how down to earth he is.
extremely humble, damn this fella’s a top bloke!
go Dato’ LCW go!
agreed… world class sportsman but very down to earth !!!
I dont downgrade him in person. Our society is very realistic. People judge you on how you bring up yourself and how you present yourself..
Honestly, that car doesn’t suite his personal image in associate with his social status..
Inspira car is the one who embarrass him the most..
Give him a Lotus. ( real one, not Youngman)
Do u guys think inspira 2.0 price too high? i think its too high for local assemble car. Should not tax malaysian too high. Lancer gt without tax like in langkawi n labuan cost 73K++. Y not proton sell inspira 2.0 inside 80K?? At least people can afford it more. 1.8 manual can sell in 65K above.. believe me upcoming 2011 myvi 1.5 will hv bad sale if inspira 1.8m price at 65K++. hehehe. Proton if u want to beat perodua sale, u shud revise the inspira price again, actually malaysia prefer mitsubishi engine than campro. hehe. sori abt that. Shud put 4g92 mivec inside persona yah.. :p n 4g91 in saga. Saga more suitable for 1.5 engine, fight with those vios n city n latio.
from GT-R to Inspira? hahahahahaha
LCW owned a GTR, Inspira is given free……is it so hard for u to understand ?
i gota say, Proton make a good move in advertising for sure. but Dato changing from GT-R to Inspira also….not bad la..haha…at least its free :) he should have request the Lotus!! :)
he’s already rich….why give him such a car…………jz give it to me….
try win any champ cup la..not empty cup..
advertising tactic.. Trying to make more people buy it as their sales are NOT THAT GOOD.
Agreed this is could be marketing tactics to associate champions with the car..
However this C-segment has tough competitions and this Inspira may not be the champion..
Inspira can hardly be the champion. They have to learn how to accept the reality..
I bet he’ll have a special number plate too, a Super Duper TINY number just like his GTR!
The cops sure don’t summon him when they see who’s inside!
I wish JPJ introduce customize number plate as what Australia does. Then for me I will put MAINAN on the number plate on that particular car.
R u from Melbourne? U’ve seen that a car with the MAINAN number plate haven’t u? Last time i saw it was on a Merc, owned by an Indonesian guy.
I saw it as well around. To me, even put some other word such as MURAH, SLAVE, also okay.. I agree with you, it owns by an Indonesian guy..
Too bad… only for those events in Malaysia.
Dato LCW forced to make INSPIRA as his official ride?
kesian~
he already have better ride rite??
Bound by contract, no choice lah. If not who will downgrade himsel from GT-R to WaLan? Jatuh muka lah…..
Free is always good what?
This car probably goes to his maid or something. He probably doesn’t even want it at the first place as he already has a Nissan R35 GTR and a BMW X6.
This car will most probably goes to his maid or gardener. He probably doesn’t even want it at the first place as he already drives a Nissan R35 GTR and a BMW X6.
i believe he had 6 Series Beemer, not an X6
No, it is an BMW X6
Hohoho!Confirm he had a 6 beemer.Got an new X6?
our datok want this ? he is using R35 le…
where got r35?
he has gtr la… gtr is not same with r35…
nissan GT-R chasis is called CBA-R35, shortform is R35, get your fact
is unofficial name called by GTR fans laa dude…me also called it r35..legacy from Nissan KPGc, r30 till r35…
chill bro…
u surely dont know much abt car…”gtr is not same with r35″??????
u guys just lame, all only know watchvideo ,or google it. never know how to fix the car, or mod it.
Don’t get confused by the G35.
or been confused by G6 also…. lol..
careful don’t get cut by new A4…
and it is not call skyline any more..
is Nissan GTR…or we call R35..
Datuk owns a Nissan GTR if i’m not mistaken.. what makes him wanna even drive this unINSPIRAing car? I really wonder…
this is what we call contract… u need to use that car sometimes so that u can get the sponsorship from proton…. and that is how DLCW got his money…. through sponsorship… lol… but does dlcw have a contract with proton??
it’s already on his dlcw’s shirt long time ago la bro. biggest logo on his singlet.
ehh that one is because of BAM right?? coz all BAM players got that logo on their shirt…
i believe proton have been sponsoring malaysian badminton for more than 10 years already.. if you are a malaysian badminton fan, dont forget that without support from corporates like proton, our players will not have the funds they need for training, proper nutrition, travelling to competitions…etc.
i dont think so. we have quite a lot of big chinese company in this country. for sure these rich chinese businessman will sponsor chong wei maa..
but non is sponsoring
Don’t simply make narrow minded unintelligent comments like these, your moniker cast doubts on whether you are even chinese. As put by others already you are obligated to promote your sponsors brand name either by their products in the form of bags to shoes and even cars!
Chinaman companies are good with money. But they are also very tight fisted and calculative. They wouldn’t invest in brand building. Only MNC’s or companies that aspires to be MNC’s do that.
LCW didn’t happen overnight, neither does Shalin Zulkifli, Nicol David or Azizul Hasni and the rest. You should see how hard they struggle and the poor equipment that they had to contend with. That’s all blood sweat and tears. Only goverments and companies that have a longstanding association with sports will do that.
yea, you think eveyrone has tongkat to monopolize the market ???
if proton so good, and so loaded why not stop burdening the public with high car price?
who cares about their sponsorship? you think a nation needs corporate sponsorship for their sports? see US,china, russia, you think their olympic athletic are from ibm, intel?
proton is a joke, LCW’s success has nothing to do with proton, spare yourself the embarrassment. LCW can go indon and indon will sponsor him no matter what is his origin.
lol… giv me a chinese or indian company that help or sponsor our sports??? most of them are our GLCs… because there need to… so you cannot deny it… i know that recently astro sponsor our malaysian league…. that is recently…. before this, company like maxis only knows and wants to make money… they sponsor things like sureheboh… lol, things related to music which can generate money… sports?? no…
to lalazhai…. i hope that you can go now to indon and find a company to sponsor you to become a badminton player… hahaha… what kind of mindset that you have… really… of course now if lee chong wei go to indon now, any company wants to sponsor him… but the reality is, he is not… because he knows that money is not everything… misbun help him… proton help him… he has got all his money… and right now he wants to help them back… i really respect laa LCW… this is just like what lin dan did with his china badminton company… if the money from tongkat, i bet he will not be here as tongkat is for malay right – “like what you have said”?? lol… you cannot deny it that before LCW become a star player, he has used the tongkat money…
Typical Malaysian mentality, no wonder we dont have many more of Datuk LCW around.
Those chinese businessman are actually chinaman minded. You can see the way they function, mostly are based on China thinking..
I agree with u. There is no give and take for most of them, but some like Genting Group is doing a big help for young golfers by giving RM150,000 sponsors for promising teen golfers, a friend of mine, her daughter got that and she’s only 15 years old. Then again, they are involved in gaming right, so literally rolling in money.
yup, all want subsidy, all want special treatment, all want free this that and the other! all can only talk big and cannot even deliver at home never mind overseas!
talking about yourself here are you?
I believe he went straight to Sunway with his Inspira after the event………
Part of advertisement. World No. 1 badminton player drove a Proton Car….
Proton will start advertise his photo everywhere…..
if you go to korea, you’ll see park ji sung face everywhere…
yaa……
that is called marketing strategy of a corporate for a win-win case.
genuine is still my preference.
i agree with you. but it wud be good if proton created a limited edition version called Smash for all its models. something like 500 units for each model.
then give LCW the first unit. that would be brilliant then.
There was a Wira Thomas Cup right? It had a nice shade of blue.
Yup, it was called METALLIC PEARL BLUE, equipped with 1.6 litre 4G92 engine only available in sedan while the aeroback version came in some olive/mint green colour with manual option and was called the Millennium Edition. One of the best batches of Proton Wira ever produced according to what I read from other internet sources.
But why LCW chose black? White should be the trend now like how the black was used to be a trend at the past. He should be given other choices of proton models like the Proton Satria Neo R3 Lotus Racing F1 Team Edition which cost RM115k, worth more than the Inspira.
I think Smash taken liao. Its a kapchai rite?
Datuk Lee Chong Wei no doubt will ask: Where is Mitsubishi badge that proton has hide, he want to put it back and turn into real Lancer.
ya.. he know, because this inspira is real lancer.. not re engineering product.. but just some re tune for batter in Ride & Handling..
you can’t even spell better correctly. Seriously dude…
For someone with the nick ‘wateva’, I’m surprise you picked on people’s spelling!
Capital ‘Y’. Seriously dude…
he deserves it, thats a recognition for his hardwork. kudos to datuk Lee Chong Wei :)
poor fella now cannot drive his GTR to work.
Danny…were you there? Does LCW drove his GTR to collect his inspira????
Nope, because we would have heard the Godzilla roar if he did :)
lol but godzilla doesnt roar….its quite quiet
this is the bane of corporate backing..a few years ago a few tennis starts were required to drive the old generation kias around (imagine that) ….but kudos to lee chong wei…he’s one the few Malaysians that deserves the stuff he’s getting…
so what is Nicol David gonna get?…since she held the her title longer than LCW…
a Proton Satria Supercharged/Lotus edition????….or Porsche from the Mahathir dynasty?.
well Nicol not based in Malaysia but Netherlands if not mistaken la..she is sponsor by CIMB
azizul hasni awang sponsor by sime darby
then azizulhasni should be given cars from sime darby. mayb ford mondeo or a range rover perhaps?
No need la bro, dier dah ada basikal dah nak kayuh…..:-)
That’s a good one, kalau Sime Darby nak bagi Azizul should take the Ford Focus TDCi rather than the Ford Mondeo. Its more spirited to drive.
Proton giving car away … the gift follow the company’s product. Sime Darby should award rubber trees to Azizul. CIMB, then should be giving hard cash to Nicol.
If I am p1, I will give neo r3, not the rebadge lancer. Got to tell people how god is p1.
should do a special edition
alaa korang ni jealous la… inspira ok ape… yg xpuas tu pegi training jadi champion la… haha
LCW always take picture with the same expression…last time when i was in 2ndary sch in Berapit, he came n we took a photo…his expression same same as now…so boring…XD
LCW made our country proud in the eyes of the world….what have u DONE exactly ???
Dont want tell you…secret…XD
he got audi R8 5.2 V10 la.. what’s a GTR? Rubbish Japanese car only.
so what cars do u own for real???
i think should be kancil 660EX auto… lol..
if i am not mistaken, this Inspira was one of the prizes for the All England 2011 men singles champion, i.e., if Lin Dan was the winner, then, Lin Dan would have got this Inspira. Can some badminton fans out there confirm this??
Why should they give these people cars. Instead they should try giving poorer people a saga or whatever for free……. Already Bodoh, lagi nak Bodoh… Proton…..Proton
Amboi amboi… get rewarded with free car for just being poor? Like that everyone in Msia should be poor, no need to work. Just wait Proton give free car.
Bodoh punya mentaliti orang gila BMW. Pastu ada hajat panggil Proton bodoh? Ntah ntah you got your BMW by being a hobo in Germany?
God that is so funny. I haven’t heard the hobo word for like 10 years? Back in circulation already? :) Its like Back to the Future. People who idolises cars too much complete with their own nick carrying a car’s brand surely has no self confidence. Let his weird sense of logic be la, maybe its normal in his ‘world’.
hahaha betul tu tokmoh. orang gila BMW ni fikir guna kepala lutut agaknya. if you’re poor and people give u a car…what the hell are u gonna do with it? jilat hari2 leh kenyang ke? bodoh punya mentaliti. haishhhhhh!!!
why dont you do that first… without expecting recognition….
talk is cheap…
u donate ur computer to those who don’t have comp lah! this is capitalism, we reward the hardworking people.
if u believe in socialism, u can migrate to North Korea.
i was in a workshop last week and saw a Persona’s engine head was being removed. As far as i know the oldest Persona on the street is less than 4 years old !!!
” Valve Bengkok”. That’s the answer from the mechanic.
Apparently the timing of the engine was out and the piston hit the valve. I could see a clear damage/cut at the upper part of one of the engine piston. According to the mechanic, many Persona have this similar problem.
After solving the power window issue, Proton now has a bigger problem !!
hello bro it due to timing belt putus? I hv experience at my hyundai my engine need top overhaul due to overheat radiator sumbat. That car just 2 week only, my valve also bengkok, head need skim back..
broken timing belts happen. sometimes, people forget to replace them.. some owners dont take their cars back to proton, so they go to independent workshops. the problem with those guys, they dont help you keep track of items that need changing. I also go to independent workshops, but i keep track of all my wear and tear items and “tell” my mechanic to change the parts the need changing, these guys usually only fix things after they’re broken.. my previous car, i changed timing belt at 70k km, even though the belt is good for 100k.. better safe than sorry.
Agreed. My old wira after 3 years lubrication oil masuk air con compressor. Haih should have bought a myvi instead. Never hear of such problems with the perodua. Furthermore 6 member of my family had a myvi and the same time my Proton masuk kilang for about 8 times due to faults, only one of theirs masuk due to shattered windscreen.
Thought you only drove BMW or at least a typical Toyota Vios? What’s with the whole family and 6 units of Myvi thing? and a Proton? Look kid, my fren’s 3 series had the whole gearbox replaced and it only did 20,000KM? Did he call that a bad car? Got it fixed under warranty and went ahead and bought another car from the same make. In your case I guess you couldn’t afford to spend time at the workshop or the money for that matter and every dollar counts. Its all about the money and your preference. You can afford it, just pay and say its normal. Otherwise buy something you can afford. All cars are made by man, only god’s creations grows better over time. Like your body and your brain, provided you keep working on it.
For the same money, i got more trouble than convinience. Anyway got rid of it already.
So now giving other people true consumer’s advice is wrong and illegal?
The service of the aircon took 3 weeks to complete and my aircon smelled of lubrication fluid ever since.
NOT TIMING BELT PUTUS !!
But the timing was out !!
Persona owners with the same problem please share with us !!
If Im not mistaken Dato LCW own a Mazda 6 too…
I think that one is his uncle’s car.
so what??
Well deserve!
Just hope that not make him late for training or miss the schedule, will do.. Haha
It is already a joke to “curi” the exterior from Mitsubishi Lancer. Now they are giving this as the official car to be driven. Hey, LCW already has a Nissan GTR Is this all Proton can promise? Why not Lotus? or at least the R3.
Dude! I’m glad that i drive the same car ad LCW. The only difference is i use money to buy but he got it for FREE. What an unfair world of fame.
I’m sure he prefer the original Lancer rather than this. How can he answer to Lin Dan when being asked what he ride. Should he answer Lancer? Or Inspira? Or just keep this at home but drive the GTR always.
Wonder will he get it convert to Mitsi logo since he is a regular customer at sunway. Can’t accept driving such car into the workshop.
Goddammit, he’s a world champion, and getting a free Proton already made you jealous to such extent? You really are… “jolly idiot”.
Why should he be ashamed of Proton? Quite the opposite, he’s gotta be grateful to Proton for helping him to where he is. Seriously lah… Fucktards like you people expect Proton to give you free cars on the basis of you being poor? Rather than doing that, it’s a million times smarter for Proton to nurture new talents in badminton.
Lin Dan drove a Ferrari when I was in Jakarta :)
yeah..sewa punya..
for decoration , mostly XD
if for decoration in his house, Datuk is insulting himself..
he looks like not so happy with the car :/
Truth be told: I would take the Inspira anytime over an Alfa or Fiat.
Bagi inspira buat apa itu mitsu, bagi la proton sawi (savvy) duhhh
motor newbie here. on a practical day-to-day driving basis in kl traffic, inspira better or gtr better?
get a kapcai (better still scrambler) and a raincoat…………..
danny, u need a new camera…
hater’s comment will always belittling whatever proton does…
giving chances to the orphan experiencing F1 also they condemned…
better give LCW kancil only..he2
Did the Sidek bros get something like Porches / Ferraris during their peak ?
If thats the case then I suppose LCW can still trade in the Inspira for something better :)
WSA 22. It’s outside his house now along his white color Suzuki Swift. His house can only fit 3 cars, which are Vios, Camry and his GT-R, he also owns Vellfire & X6.
Oh yeah, he used to owned an Audi R8 for a short while too, sold it to one of my friend’s friend. We are now guessing what’s his next ride.
I mean his garage fits only 3 cars.
Proton is Mitsubishi’s partner or RESELLER?
Halo Malaysian , WAKE UP already .
That stupid CEO helps Mitsubishi selling their Lancer .
Somemore doing marketting rite now “proudly” by giving it to Datuk LEE.
Walao , Proton’ CEO was an easy job lei .
I put a Proton badge at Ferrari then it will became Proton?
Let’s our primary student take his seat , they might be more creative !
i think Proton should give one inspira to Paul Tan……..
They charged Malaysian so much charge foreigner so little, and none of those premium Malaysian paid goes back to benefit car engineer, car designer, car mechanic, car engine developer from Malaysia. They are making a big mistakes, by betraying the people after 25 years in business enriching their cronies pocket rather than investing in talents from Malaysia. Where Malaysian talents goes if Proton not helping them? Thailand? Indonesia? probably hired by big international brand like Toyota & Honda. These Proton people has already sold them out to cronies, and due to their greed, allowed foreigner company car to go on sale.
when proton cars break down people complain because its cheap. when cars like mercs and bmw have the same exact problem people never complain. typical malaysian mentality.
I bet u don’t know some of the earlier 7 Series had ECU problems and it shuts off while driving. Looking at the degree of severity, power window failures, air cond and others, this ECU issue is a major issue.
But BMW Malaysia being BMW quietly fixed it and called it technical service update or some other fancy nice sounding name to show that they care. Its all about ‘branding’ My cousin is one of the tech supervisor for BMW Malaysia thats how I found out.
certain group may be toooo angry to lay with such comments,
but how to explain proton offer a BETTER Spec and safety features to foreign market?? Whereas local here we offered with a SIMPLE without any safety feature during SAGA, ISWARA and WIRA era?
i bet the inspira save a lil bit of LCW fuel budget for his official event..rather then driving his sports car..heh…dont look done to other especially when they had done their best and try to appreciate the effort…a gift is a gift no matter how big or small…happy working people…
LCW is also driving BMW X6.
nissan gtr r35 also!
Support LCW as becoming a champion and a brand ambassador for proton..not that bad as he getting a cheaper version of Lancer for free. So work hard and they will be a reward.
not bad…got car and money from Proton !
good la…. get 2.0cc car…
good for Proton n also DLCW.. proud of both..
lawa jgak Inspira kan???…rse nk tolak je sylphy ak….
Nice one!!!