Lotus’ plans of building its first SUV – slated to be unveiled sometime next year – has been made public for some time, and now Proton chairman Tun Dr Mahathir Mohamad has shed light on a few new details of the off-roader.
The former prime minister revealed that not only has both Proton and Lotus green-lighted the final design of the SUV (which has been in development since 2014), but, contrary to previous reports, it won’t be built solely in China, for the Chinese market only. Instead, it will be produced and sold in other markets as well.
“The problem is to build it, and we don’t have the four-wheel drive or the engine,” he said. “So now we are negotiating with people in China and in Europe on how to build the car.”
Despite this, Mahathir stressed that the SUV will be developed mainly for the Chinese market, and that Lotus has to achieve the basic volume first before considering other markets.
Mahathir also surprised us with a confirmation that a Lotus sedan will follow the SUV onto the market, also aimed at the Chinese market. Both models will be built by Lotus together with its partner in China, Goldstar Heavy Industrial. “The Chinese want sedans and SUV, they don’t want sports cars. In town they don’t want sports cars,” he said.
Another surprise – when asked if these models will be sold in Malaysia and whether they will carry Lotus or Proton badges, Mahathir said that while it has not been decided yet, they will probably be badged as Protons.
Proton-badged Lotus SUV and sedan? Sounds great to us, but what do you guys think? Sound off in the comments section after the jump.
Watch the video above to see the full interview with Proton chairman Tun Dr Mahathir Mohamad.
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Time to con people outside of China
Good luck!
potong sucks..toyota hilux better
Got halal logo?
Carbon-fibre & aluminum bonded panels. How will P1 justify the price of the vehicles?
Lotus before could sell. Because it had the British name and quality. When Proton bought it, people stopped buying Lotus because it had no more British name and British quality.
Now nobody buys Lotus because it is associated with failing Proton. Even the Evora 400 sports car, priced at RM650k, people don’t want to touch it. People are shocked that a RM650k car has most of its parts Made by Proton and shared with your everyday Proton and a mere Toyota engine
For example, on the clear cover you can see “DELLOYD” and next to it the Proton logo.
http://s2.paultan.org/image/2016/02/Lotus-Evora-400-7.jpg
Proton tries to fool people with sports car that is fully Proton parts and Toyota engine and sell it for RM650k
What a load of bulls.
Lotus was never a volume seller. Their average sales since inception never reach above 5k per year.
They were wildly popular in USA when they re-enter the market in early 2000 but since then they cannot sell any cars there because of US tighter regulation. That is why they look into China instead since China is currently the largest car market in the world.
Lotus Evora 400 is widely praise and hot selling worldwide. Bodoh punya basher.
agreed, Lotus is one of the greatest track weapon worldwide.
Small,lightweight,handling,simple are their main formula of building cars.
Wei, nak kelentong pun agak2 lah….haish!
Old man still harvesting OUR MONEY via his plotong cronies.
Rubbish that no one wants to buy.
“we don’t have the four-wheel drive or the engine,”???? how about the NE01 engine..? put the NE01 engine in the stomach of that SUV, then..
They want to mount a supercharged V6 engine that produced 300hp. NE01 doesn’t fit the criteria. But I do agree that they should consider turbocharged NE01 for the vehicle.
Proton – It’s in the dreaming.
1.5 TGDI crossover, brings the fight directly to honda’s doorstep, hopefully the trend has not died out then….
1.5/2.0 TGDI RWD sedans developed by lotus…. nothing wrong with that….
i tot you dont want rebadge anymore tun…
Lotus belongs to proton, lah. This is not rebadge”……..
B-segment SUV is being fancied by many. If only Proton could provide something reliable & at a reasonable cost. That could be something that definitely help Proton out. You should know better on what the market demands. Don’t make the same mistakes again & cry over it next fiscal.
By the time Proton does it, trend already changed. Always chasing rats tail. I think by the time their Ricardo TGDI out, Direct injection engine also phased out already.
i think najib gonna hate this car..and also same lorr
not maybe , comfirm la !
We have waited too long for Lotus Proton car since 20 years already…bring it on…
Proton has already had many dance partners in China, but it still needs to find the right one, that can bring it the prize, of success. Between 2009 and 2013 its joint venture with Jinhua Youngman had growing sales numbers, but then the venture stalled and apparently came undone, for reasons unknown. I hope it will not give up.
“Proton-badged Lotus SUV and sedan? Sounds great to us”
#thumbsup
“The problem is to build it, and we don’t have the four-wheel drive or the engine,”
#facepalm
The Proton Lotus SUV is 10yrs old story. Still talk and talk about it?
If Proton can make a good affordable and sexy SUV, I think the sale would go up so instead of buying the ugly Great Wall M4, people can go buy Proton SUV.
Tun Dr Mahathir Mohamad knows nothing about the automotive industry and he is systematically destroying Lotus with his ignorance. Just because Chinese don’t want sports cars, does not mean you abandon your life long DNA and make idiotic SUV and Sedans. This is totally wrong for Lotus and will destroy the companies image for ever, what a waste. Soryy Cloin, I tried to stop this from happening but could not make anyone see the light.
Tun Dr Mahathir Mohamad knows nothing about the automotive industry and he is systematically destroying Lotus with his ignorance. Just because Chinese don’t want sports cars, does not mean you abandon your life long DNA and make idiotic SUV and Sedans. This is totally wrong for Lotus and will destroy the companies image for ever, what a waste. Sorry Colin, I tried to stop this from happening but could not make anyone see the light.