Amidst the Proton-Geely foreign strategic partnership confirmation and news on the plans and future of the Malaysian carmaker with a new partner onboard, there’s a small section of the company that’s currently feeling sentimental. R3, Proton’s motorsports division will be shuttered, and personnel, both past and present, have been posting their tributes and farewell notes on social media.
The timing of R3’s winding down coincides with the Proton-Geely deal, which also sees the Chinese carmaker take majority stake in Lotus. This leads to the easy assumption that the developments are related. That’s not true, and it’s merely a coincidence, according to a source familiar with the matter.
According to the source, the plan to wind down R3 isn’t a shock decision and has been on the cards for some time. Unsurprisingly, it’s due to the lack of budget, and the slowing down of Proton sales of late has made it impossible for R3 to keep doing what it does, which as its name suggests, is Race, Rally and Research.
The source added that Proton needs to channel funds towards its core operations, and the company’s current situation means that R3 is no longer a priority. R3 will close its doors at the end of May, and its staff will be reassigned. The division’s future will only be discussed when Geely comes onboard. Perhaps when the company’s health has been restored, R3 can someday rise from the ashes – who knows?
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I guess this is where my tax money goes to, financing the so-called R&D.
No point being sentimental if you’re usually a midfield or a back marker team.
R3 = Rubbish, Reused, Recycle
No more Lotus handling nonsense. Gud that they wind it down
At least still got perf parts. Ever try to get a perf springs from Trash, Rubbish, Dumpster?
I see what you did there.
Becoz what that kompeni sold is Trashy parts, on a Rubbish cars, fit for Dumpster.
R3 winding down, john still sembang kencang. Padan muka
Meanwhile ur toyota is deep in dodo and nobody gonna come rescue. What a pity
Waste money. Rakyat’s money. All down the drain…oh wai oh wai oh wai
Still better than Rakyat Rugi Ribu juta. Understand? And rakyat dun pity ur R3 winding down
When u try to tipoo rakyat with overpriced non perf enhancing parts, thats when rakyat rugi. Understand?
What R3 needs is a CEO from China appointed by Geely. Then the company will do well.
The same with Proton HQ. We need one of Geely’s men to be the main CEO. Proton will flourish then
ohwai fighting for his life!
Game on!
Oh… U mean like the RM1888 non perf Saga bodykit released last week, right? According to ur logic, Proton is trying to tipu the rakyat? Oh wai…
TRD = Trash Rubbish Dustbin
R3 and P1 need to close down completely. Bazir duit rakyat
Errrr toyota bail out in billions jepunis tak kecoh pulak
john kena kantoi…ha ha ha ha
oh really?
Game over for john and his R3
Why Toyota need rescue? Toyota still sell the most cars in the world. Today Toyota close down entire Malaysia division it still make profit. CAN PROTON LEAVE MALAYSIA MARKET?
Why Toyota so expensive? Thanks to Proton protection and soft loan.
You can’t afford a Toyota then you pretend no one else can afford it. I can only laugh non stop!
Never doubt a man and his convictions. Never.
Game, set, match
So sad no more Lotus handling. May be ‘Ride & Handling by Geely’?
Close down is good decision. Nothing great the division
Poor Malaysians got conned by bodoh Proton for years. they put the badge “Handling by Lotus” all Malaysians got excited.
Actually, Lotus and Proton got nothing to do with each other lah. that is what Proton cheated and lied to the people. Exora owners all kena con.
Proton cars got ZERO technology from Lotus.
tak ada modal lagi. Defend R3 sampai sudah hangus
Sick to see copy paste comment. No life pun.
Just shut down Proton. By the way when Proton repaying RM1.5 bil and RM1.1 bil?
CFEwas developed by lotus. Same goes go campro. And of course good handling of p1 cars were learned from lotus too
Kasihan john, gonna get paycut
The division makan hundreds of million ringgit. Better to use the money to build more hospitals and universities.
Jaguh kampung just want to syiok sendiri only
Go and bash your toyotaik better, vios airbags still stucks at 2
Then uni grads don’t have jobs. All company owned by the great wall country.
Padan muka! Stop wasting money down the toilet!
Betui, john still syok sendiri defending his R3 which cost us millions
Here’s the kicker, Tengku Mahaleel’s son Tengku Djan Ley actually heads the R3 division. He was touted as the drift king of Malaysia, sure the title is very glamourous for that one guy, but the fact of the matter is the rakyat indirectly funded his past time activities.
R3 = Race, Rally & Research. No FUND/$$$ = No Fun. Bye Bye R3. Hope to see a new Vol-Tron(Volvo+Proton) to replace R3 in 3 years time.
catchy!
Delusions of grandeur. Village hero syndrome.
Agree we have many Delusions Village hero. Now go look into the Mirror.
nanti Tun M is crying again say ‘Son die” again
So many gov sapoters. im saddings when big event coming near.
Stupid comment. Selling a non profit business does not mean supporting the govt.
john’s comment coming out of dumpster, where he pick up his tiny brain out of the thrash can
Ramadan must be affecting the thinking of these people
Only racist thinks about others race
LOL this son is from another wife punya son
ok..now I finally found this a BAD news!
Inb4 salahan tongsan.
Why, wouldn’t this be what naysayers wanted? Shutting down of redundant divisions, and focus resource on more crucial activities?
Feels kinda sad, but given current circumstances, somebody has to make the hard decision.
Here’s to hoping for future Proton’s successful recovery, hence, can afford for niche division like R3 once again.
Proton > all
We must of votings other side, so that he comes back and we makes of P1 great again!
Delusions of grandeur. Village hero syndrome.
he is on full mode recently defending failing Proton left right and center. Cave man defending.
There it claims its first group of victims. Grab your popcorn.
How bout the rest of Proton’s 10,000 employees? Need to cut down costs. The Chinese are serious about this. Directors nd upper managements salary and perks too. No mor business class, Audi A8. Must act like company have no money la
While DRB has the majority say, it simply cannot be done. But DRB still has some tricks up its sleeve which is moving shah alam facilities up to proton city in tg malim. Expect many personnel opting to leave instead of transfer.
Close it down already. Nobody will bat an eye. Baik kasi Polestar kau kau sama Proton
Good…also please shutdown Proton’s EV program while you guys are at it (unless if it already has been dissolved). RM Millions of R&D grant being channeled into this programme tapi hasil langsung xde.
Prototype is done. All ready for production but no market cuz battery too exp for Iriz price point.
bukan masuk wrc ke
that’s a private company/team
this is proton own racing division
It will be revived and rebrand under Geely’s management to 3L, Lace, Lally, Lesearch.
Why rebrand it when others created a brand called TuneD? Can make use what
TuneD is alredi incorporated by another company doing bodykit business. P1 cannot use same name cuz infringe their copyright.
Take from his father who was yesterday crying that y sold to foreigners.ask him to sell his all conti cars n give his share In money wise if he is so loyal.
We r suffering bez of him make us fool since long time
Billion ringgit research fund all habis masuk pockets innit.
Father started this division so his son can play mod cars. Not bad huh, use rakyat money to pay for son’s hobby.
R3 division was created when tengku mahaleel was holding top spot in the company and proton was cash rich. That was before it was hit in 2006 when ppl were anxious for new car prices post AFTA and hold their purchases.
R3 didn’t contribute much to money making other than in promotional activities especially involving motorsports and one a while – doing pimp my car.
In my honest opinion R3 should have a version of every proton cars, tweaked and styled to promote sales on engine upgrades and bodykit accessories. This include Savvy R3, gen2 R3, persona R3, Saga R3, Preve R3 and Suprima R3.
They do custom body kit for styling before,except tweak the engine(exclude satria neo r3)
And I bet some people here blamed R3 for falling down but buying counterfeit R3 products at fiber bodykit shop…hahahahaha
Apa yg r3 buat mendatangkan kebaikan pada petoron? Habis kan duit je…. teknologi apa yg r3 research dan sumbang kat petoron? Takde…. buat habis duit ada la…. let ashes be ashes…
R3= rugi rosak rubbish
Good riddance
R3 ni “baby” tengku mahaleel ketika eranya sebagai CEO proton… Pada masa tu, proton terlalu bercita-cita tinggi untuk melibatkan diri dalam motorsports walhal pengetahuannya masih terlalu cetek… inilah akibatnya pada hari ini R3 terpaksa ditutup kerana masalah kewangan… Selama ini, R3 tidak menyumbang apa – apa kepada proton selain menambahkan kerugian proton dari tahun ke tahun…
Bro, pemikiran Tengku Mahaleel takde la cetek macam tu sekali. Dia seorang rally driver pada zaman 70-80an. Jadi part mana ceteknya pengetahuan Tengku Mahaleel dalam motorsport yang bro maksudkan tu.
Oh ya. Tengku Djan Ley, drifter Malaysia yang popular tu adalah pengendali program R3 sehingga syarikat ini ditutup. Beliau juga adalah anak kepada Tengku Mahaleel sendiri.
Yang ramai-ramai bash pasal Lotus tu, tau tak yang beli Lotus tu arwah Tan Sri Yahya yang terbunuh dalam kemalangan helikopter kat Pahang dulu?
Mai i tell u, byk yg tak suka sebab kau ex rally driver, then u think its suitable and ready for Proton to embark…The truth is, Proton was never ready in the 80s, 90s and 00s, even today to get involve in motorsport. So while a good attempt, it was again down to the limited experience and protectionism of the Malay senior executives that Proton now lags behind China car brands. SO yes, Tengku Mahaleel cetek pandangan nye….
john mudah lupa.
Ramai dupes, from one paid basher
Bro, maksudnya bukan tengku mahaleel yg cetek pengetahuan tetapi syarikat proton yg cetek pengetahuan secara keseluruhan… Sebagai contoh, mengapa proton tidak menumpukan perhatian dlm r&d ketika itu untuk membangunkan kereta passenger sebab time tu rebadge aje model model mitsubishi, mengapa nak letak duit pelaburam dlm R3 sedangkan R3 ni hanya motorsports? Mana lebih utama, market kereta passenger ke R3? Pikir pikirkanlah…
BTW, it is a good decision to wind down R3,inikan PROTON nak menghasilkan kereta passenger yang benar benar reliable dan berkualiti pun tak mampu, apatah lagi kereta motorsports untuk menyaingi pasaran dunia… Inilah yang dikatakan proton harus “berpijak di bumi nyata”…
hahahahahaha , ccy7218 , ur statements PROTON nak menghasilkan kereta passenger yang benar benar reliable dan berkualiti tinggi pun tak mampu , really like a shit , my suprima s easily tapow new civic turbo , i think u should ‘ berpijak di bumi nyata bukan PROTON , your stupid statements really make my day , hahahahahahaha
You mean before this they have fund? From the “public soft loan”?
r3 rim price will skyrocket
Nothing special about the rims. Besides, R3 rims were manufactured by Japanese. So what is so big deal about R3 rim? Proud of “Malaysia” car with Japanese made rims?
Pinjam, jgn x pinjam.
From my experience with overpriced Satria Neo R3, it stand for Rosak, Repair, Rosak lagi…
aiyoh… nobody picked this up meh? “staff will be reassigned to other depts…” other depts already overstaffed coz production low gila so nothing to do. somemore got MORE people coming in with NO relevant experience sebab all this time syok gi race jer (check out the level of super expensive components on the race Iriz manh) … so all these irrelevant people coming in for erm.. coz of…you know…actually…. krik krik krik…
Where is malaysians cainis car brand?
Toyota TRD godcar jangan persoal brand.
It will be easier for Honda cars to win back races at Sepang now that their main competitor R3 is gone. Ironically, Honda is also under Hicom DRB group.
Now we see more battles between Honda Racing and Toyota TRD at Sepang? Maybe Perodua Racing Team too?
P2? 1st corner in Sepang alredi all cars turn turtle. How to racing liek dis?
Must be at flat road liek Federal, NSE, LDP, NKVE, Elite, Kesas, etc, then can tapau all racing.
P2 noneed to race…still business is good, and supported by Malaysian. Steady profitable business.
Unlike P1, race, race, race this and that…..and bungkus biz eventually. Had to pinjam money samor from govt. OMG….Really a disaster.
Good idea to scrap these unwanted motorsport division, its not working well into developing hardcore race car thus flushing out tons of $$$ for cheap publicity for all the years since Tg Mahalel incompetent ruling. Time for Mellor sport to shine Proton Iriz R5 in WRC next season after few yrs absense.