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Proton Satria Neo Super 2000 touring car

Satria Neo S2000
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It appears that a group of people have been working on a Super 2000 Proton Satria Neo rally car, and the above image sent in by LivinCars is proof that such a race machine is in the works. Yahoo Eurosport UK reports that the people behind this car is most likely Mellors Elliot Motorsport based at Bakewell in the Derbyshire region. Mellors Elliot Motorsport was the company that prepared the Proton PERT that Karamjit Singh raced and won in the Production Car World Championship. This is unconfirmed of course.

No specifications at the moment, but FIA regulations for Super 2000 cars include a maximum power output of 280 horsepower normally aspirated, so it’s just natural that the development team tune up the Neo to produce that amount of power to be competitive. There’s also a maximum displacement limit of 2.0 liters - so it’s not very likely that this will be powered by a Campro 1.6 engine. The engine must be mated to a 6-speed sequential gearbox with control specification made by Sadev, Xtrac or Ricardo.

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Proton Satria Neo R3 Details and Photos

Proton Satria Neo R3
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It’s been quite some time since we’ve heard from Proton’s Race Rally Research division. The last cars that they had put their tuning touch on was Proton Waja MME and the Proton GEN2 MME back in 2006. Because their first product was the Proton Satria R3 based on the Satria GTI, many have been anxiously waiting for the R3-tuned version of the Satria Neo to debut. The wait is over, and the Proton Satria Neo R3 is here.

Read my test drive report after the jump.

Click here to read the rest of Proton Satria Neo R3 Details and Photos

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First sighting of new Proton MPV test mule!

EXCLUSIVE UPDATE: Proton MPV exclusive initial details revealed!
14th October 2008 UPDATE: Proton MPV Spyshots - photos of the actual Proton MPV being tested on public roads!

A forumer posted photos of a Proton MPV test mule with a Toyota Wish body. Proton is currently performing on-road tests of the new MPV and is either:

a) employing a well known disguise technique of using the body of a similiar vehicle to hide the chassis of a car being tested, or…
b) is currently performing powertrain tests with a body of a similiar weight and size.

Proton MPV

The photos show that the interior features a Toyota Wish dashboard with a Proton steering wheel. The interior seems to have a bad fit and finish - weird gaps here and there very atypical of a Toyota.

Look at the area around the left-most air conditioning vent as well as the area where the dash meets the center tunnel which runs between the two front seats. The dash could be looking that way because it has been adapted to fit the Proton MPV’s interior. If you look closely, there’s nothing where the dash-mounted shift lever is supposed to be. There is very likely a Proton powertrain and gearbox under this test mule’s engine bay.

On-road tests with a different body can be done if the air intakes provided by the donor body’s grilles and bumper vents as well as undercarriage design are modified to match amount of air cooling that the final product’s design will give the engine bay. Adding ballasts or stripping unnecessary equipment is done to ensure the final body is the same or similiar weight to the actual product.

Hopefully more photos of the new MPV will surface soon, perhaps later in the year we’ll see some with the actual body.

Proton MPV

Proton MPV

Proton MPV

Proton MPV

Proton MPV

Proton MPV

Proton MPV

Proton MPV

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Proton to finalise India plan by mid-2008

Proton LogoProton plans to finalise its India strategy by the middle of 2008, according to its managing director Datuk Syed Zainal in a report by The Star yesterday. A suitable partner (or partners) for the Indian market would have the following qualities:

  • manufacturing and distribution experience
  • car design and localisation capabilites

Proton will be targetting the B-segment and C-segment in India with cars like the Proton Saga and the Proton Person, with a strategy similiar to the one they used in China, which was getting a Chinese manufacturer to buy CKD kits of the GEN2 (CBU imports initially) and handle sales and marketing themselves in their own market which they would be familiar with, something Proton would not have experience with.

Read my previous article for my thoughts on how Proton could fit into the Indian automotive industry: Proton and the Indian automotive industry. It was written before the Saga launch so at that point we were still speculating the Saga’s dimensions.

On the local scenes, there will be something nice from Proton next week ;)

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Refreshed 2008 Naza 206 Bestari

Naza 206 Bestari
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Naza has updated the Naza 206 Bestari with a new bodykit including a rear roof spoiler, door visors, and a new exhaust tailpipe. The rear seat bench now includes head rests, something that was optional on the car when it was initially launched, even though product images showed that it had headrests.

The 3 year or 100,000km warranty package has been upped to 5 years now, and includes 3 years free maintenance. With the additional accessories and warranty, the price remains the same at RM68,888 for the 1.4 liter French-rebadge.

One more rear shot after the jump.

Related Posts:
Naza 206 Bestari in-depth specifications, photos and price
Naza 206 Bestari Test Drive Review

Click here to read the rest of Refreshed 2008 Naza 206 Bestari

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A Profitable 3rd Quarter 2007 For Proton

Proton LogoProton posted a profit of RM11 million for the Q3 2007 period ending 31st December 2007, a big improvement over the Q3 2006 loss of RM272 million. Proton attributes the profit to higher sales volume and lower operating costs.

Q3 2007 revenue was up to RM1.45 billion, boosted by increased sales of 36,784 in Q3, up by 2,444 units from 34,340 in Q2, thanks to Persona sales of over 30,000 units and Saga bookings of over 35,000 since it was launched on the 18th of January 2008. Proton’s market share in this quarter increased to 34.8% compared to 33.1% and 26.5% in Q2 2007 and Q1 2007 respectively.

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Proton MPV due in 2009

Proton LogoProton managing director Datuk Syed Zainal revealed that Proton will be unveiling its new MPV early next year, but declined to reveal any other details about the MPV.

We can expect the new Proton MPV to have more carryover of components from existing models to improve economies of scale and reduce development costs.

EXCLUSIVE UPDATE: Proton MPV exclusive initial details revealed!

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Proton Waja Campro 1.6 Premium (CPS) Details

Waja CPS
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The latest revision to the Waja as scooped earlier this week is the new Proton Waja Campro 1.6 Premium (CPS) as it is officially called, and these are the official details.

Let’s have a look at the equipment level first before we get to the juicy CPS stuff. The Waja Campro 1.6 Premium (CPS) comes with either a 5-speed manual gearbox or a 4-speed auto. It has electrically foldable remote wing mirrors, front seats with three-way adjustable headrests (up, down and tilt), leather seats all around, a gated automatic shifter for the automatic transmission model, new center panel switches, a keyless trunk remote system, ABS brakes, dual SRS airbags, fog lamps, twin tailpipes and projector Xenon headlamps with automatic headlamp levelling.

Perhaps the most interesting update to this Premium CPS Waja is like its namesake, the Campro CPS engine. This engine has been eagerly awaited by many, as the current Campro has often been referred to the “Campro without Campro” - there was no cam profile switching involved. With the new S4PH Campro CPS, there is.

CPS Power
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This is how the new Proton Campro CPS works. The CPS system integrated both cam profile switching (CPS) and a variable intake manifold (VIM). VIM switches between a long intake manifold at low RPMs and a short intake manifold at higher RPMs. According to Proton, a longer intake manifold is used at low RPMs to achieve slower air flow; this promotes better mixing with fuel. The short intake manifold allows more air in faster. This is beneficial at high RPMs. This seems to be slightly different compared to the usual VIM system where intake manifold width is also varied to control air velocity, and velocity tries to be maximised, but the idea behind the CPS VIM seems to be not wanting the air to go in as fast as possible at low revs to promote air-fuel mixture? Whatever it is, it seems to work, as the VIM does not stand alone but works with all the other engine systems together over different RPMs.

The CPS system uses a switching tappet and a trilobe camshaft to switch between two different cam profiles. One cam profile provides low valve lift, while the other cam profile has a high valve lift. The low valve lift cam profile is used at engine speeds of under 3,800rpm to maintain idling smoothness and ensure lower emissions, while the high lift cam profile is used when the engine is spinning more than 3,800rpm to improve peak horsepower and torque.

Using this two performance-improving systems, Campro CPS engine basically runs in three modes at any one time:

Engine Speed CPS VIM
0 to 3,800rpm Low Lift Long Runner
3,800rpm to 4,800rpm High Lift Long Runner
Above 4,800rpm High Lift Short Runner

The result is 125 horsepower (93kW) at 6,500rpm and 150Nm of torque at 4,500rpm compared to the non-CPS Campro’s 110 horsepower (82kW) at 6,000rpm and 148Nm of torque at 4,000rpm. Engine displacement is 1,597cc, bore and stroke is 76mm x 88mm and the compression ratio is 10.0:1. To handle the higher power and torque output, the Campro CPS engine has an additional oil cooler.

CPS Torque
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I drove the car earlier this week but did not really go very far, only got up to 2nd gear on the manual tranmission and did not even rev up to the redline - whatever short impression I had was quite good indeed. I am quite eager to test drive the new CPS-equipped Proton Waja and cannot wait to bring you my findings.

The new Proton Waja Campro 1.6 Premium (CPS) is priced at RM61,888 for the manual transmission version, while the one with the automatic transmission is priced at RM64,888. It comes in six colours: bronze garnet, blue agate, iridescent white, twilight blue, metal gray and burgundy. Standard warranty is 2 years, but it also comes with an Extended Warranty Program, extending total warranty to 5 years.

Let’s hope that after this we will be able to see a new Waja - the Saga was the first Proton and the Waja was the first non-Mitsubishi-based Proton. We don’t want to see a similiar product lifecycle with the Saga do we?

Related Posts:
Proton Waja CPS 1.6 now in showrooms! (more photos here)

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Proton David Arumugam CNY Greetings

It seems that most of us like David Arumugam so I suppose Proton made the right call with the production of this Chinese New Year greeting video. It also emphasizes on our multi-cultural rojak society. Enjoy the video! :D

VIDEO: Proton David Arumugam CNY Greetings

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Proton Perdana Replacement Model Artist’s Impression based on Mitsubishi Galant

Proton Perdana Replacement
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I was thinking the other day about how the Proton Perdana V6 and the Proton Arena are pretty much the only Proton cars from the old generation still on sale now, with the old Saga having being replaced recently by a second generation model that has been rather well accepted by the public.

Before the Volkswagen-Proton talks collapsed, many have been speculating that the next generation Proton Perdana replacement nodel could be a badge engineered Volkswagen Passat. There were many good artist’s impressions of a Proton-badged Volkswagen, mostly based on the long wheel base Skoda Superb.

Now that that deal is off, we will have to look at the current Mitsubishi Galant/Mitsubishi 380 to see what the new Proton Perdana could end up like, as developing a Perdana on Proton’s own is definitely not very financially viable. Proton previously entered into a technical partnership agreement with Mitsubishi, but we have not really seen any obvious results from that yet, as it looks like it is still at exploratory stages.

So yes, getting to the point of this post, I asked Theophilus Chin if he could whip up a second generation Proton Perdana replacement for us to admire and imagine. It’s basically a Mitsubishi Galant/Mitsubishi 380 with styling derived from the 2nd generation Proton Saga. Do you like it? A Proton Perdana based on the Mitsubishi Galant could come with a 2.4 liter inline-4 engine, probably the 4G69 which makes 160hp at 5,500rpm and has a maximum torque of 212Nm at 4,000rpm

If you’re interested in taking a trip back to the past, read the posts below back from 2005, and 2006 when Proton was still in talks with foreign partners: mainly PSA Peugeot Citroen, Volkswagen and a bit of Mitsubishi.

Related Posts:
Perdana Replacement Model to be a Volkswagen Passat? - 27th June 2005
Perdana Replacement Model photoshop based on Skoda Superb - 17th July 2005
Mitsubishi 380 powered by a 3.8 liter V6 - 4th February 2006
Mitsubishi 380 to be exported to Malaysia - 9th March 2006
Perdana Replacement Model due in April 2007 - 27th June 2006
Perdana Replacement Model to get inline-4 engine - 17th July 2006
Perdana Replacement Model study still underway - 1st August 2006

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