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Proton Exora with different bumper spotted during tests

February 7, 2011 at 5:47 pm By Paul Tan Filed Under Cars, Malaysian Makes, Proton, Spyshots

Proton Exora FL

Reader Dzulkarnaen snapped these pix of this black Proton Exora at the Awan Besar R&R sometime in January this year. As you can see, the front bumper looks quite different from the Exora that’s currently on sale now, with what appears to be vertical oriented intake grilles – not sure what they’re used for.

And here’s an artist’s impression by Theophilus Chin, translating what we can see from the bumper in the spyshot onto a product image. This might be an indication of what the facelifted Proton Exora might look like, or perhaps a new look exclusive to the upcoming top of the line turbocharged Proton Exora CFE Turbo, or it might not even be a Proton – perhaps a Youngmanized Exora.

Look after the jump for the rest of the spyshots.
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Proton hits Top Gear, with The Stig in the Satria Neo S2000

February 2, 2011 at 11:54 am By Anthony Lim Filed Under Cars, International News, Motorsports, Proton

Proton Motorsports’ Satria Neo S2000 has been featured in an Ashes Special episode of Top Gear, which ran earlier in the week. The episode pitted the UK Top Gear stooges, Messrs Clarkson, May and Hammond against their Australian counterparts, Ewen Page, Shane Jacobson and Steve Pizzati.

Two identical Satria Neo S200s were supplied by MEM, the British-based firm which prepares and runs the Satrias for the FIA Asia-Pacific Rally Championship and the Intercontinental Rally Challenge, as part of the vehicle inventory for the show. The episode had a five-event challenge including a drag race, drifting, a race with cars on top of each other and sheep herding on motorbikes. Er, yes, sheep herding.

The cars were featured in the final challenge, which was run around a mixed surface track at Cornbury Park in Oxfordshire. For this, Hammond was the co-driver in the UK team’s Satria Neo S2000, with The Stig driving the car. For the Australians, Pizzati drove and was navigated by Page. Courtesy of a 15.1-point lead, the Australians started the stage 15.1 seconds ahead.

They were caught and passed by The Stig and Hammond, who crossed the line ahead to seal a repeat of England’s famous Ashes victory earlier this month.

“It was great to work with the team on this, and even better as the UK won! The guys all seemed to really enjoy the cars and it was good to see The Stig behind the wheel of a Satria Neo S2000,” Proton Motorsports team principal Chris Mellors said.

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Proton Satria Neo R3 Concept at Tokyo Auto Salon 2011

February 1, 2011 at 12:02 am By Paul Tan Filed Under Cars, International News, Malaysian Makes, Proton

This red Proton Satria Neo R3 Concept was displayed at the 2011 Tokyo Auto Salon earlier this year alongside the CUSCO Proton Satria Neo rally car. According to R3, it was built to show the Japanese what Proton and its motorsports division R3 are capable of in terms of both styling and performance. This road-going concept was built to complement the launch of the CUSCO Group N rally car.

Under the hood is the same engine and tune found in the Proton Satria Neo R3 Lotus Racing, which basically means 145 horsepower and 168Nm of torque, up a substantial 25 horses and 18Nm from the stock Campro CPS tune. The performance equipment is unique to this car as well – Cusco suspension, Endless brakes and etc, while the Lotus Racing edition featured Ohlins and AP Racing.

Look after the jump for more shots of the red Neo R3 Concept.
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No forced merger between Proton and Perodua, says G’ovt

January 25, 2011 at 7:27 pm By Anthony Lim Filed Under Local News, Malaysian Makes, Perodua, Proton

Despite having signalled the need for a merger in the automotive industry – essentially between Proton and Perodua – sometime back, the government will not force both companies to merge, according to Datuk Seri Mustapa Mohamed, the Minister of International Trade and Industry.

In a Bernama report, Mustapa told reporters today that any solution or proposal would have to be agreed to by both stakeholders, saying that the government cannot force the companies to make a decision, given the long spectrum involved.

“At one end is loose cooperation and at the other, a merger, which has yet to be decided,” the Minister said today, adding that “it’s a major collaboration and cooperation between Proton and Perodua and not a straightforward process.”

He said that the government would encourage and have talks with both companies, adding that in reality, it made sense for the two companies to collaborate and make the automotive industry competitive.

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LIVE from the Monte Carlo Rally: Proton’s challenge ends – one mysterious failure, one unfortunate accident

January 20, 2011 at 4:23 am By Danny Tan Filed Under Malaysian Makes, Motorsports, Proton, Proton Satria Neo


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It has been a freezing day for yours truly in Valence, France, but I’m not the only miserable one, as disappointment hangs in the air at the Proton camp. After all the hard work and anticipation, the team’s challenge at the Rallye Monte Carlo 2011 ends on the first day of the event.

To be exact, it lasted two stages long. We woke up before the sun rose to reach Col de la Fayolle, a viewing point on SS1. After securing a photography spot, it was torture waiting for the first car to past, thanks to 0 degrees temperature coupled with strong winds – a shivering body makes sharp pics harder to get!


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The huge crowd at the hairpin cheered as the first Skodas and Peugeots zoomed past, followed by the Satria Neo S2000 of P-G Andersson. The best looking car of the event got our yellow contingent excited, but worry creeped in when the sister car of Chris Atkinson was nowhere to be seen.

Turns out that the Atkinson’s run lasted only 700 metres into SS1. An electrical problem caused the ECU to stop working. “It was only five or six corners into the rally, I’ve never retired so early before in my career,” said the dejected Aussie when we met him at the service park. He added that the car ran without any issue in two days of testing prior to the event, and the actual cause of the failure is still unknown at this point.


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SS1 was from Le Moulinon to Antraigues, and after 36.9 km, Stephane Sarrazin of Peugeot was leading, followed by IRC defending champ Juha Hanninen of Skoda. It was very tight between the two (only 0.3 seconds separate), but they pulled out a gap from the rest – Guy Wilks and Bryan Bouffier (both driving Peugeots) were 20 seconds behind.

Proton’s now sole driver P-G Andersson finished SS1 in 12th, the best placed non Skoda/Peugeot, one minute behind the leaders.


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We then hopped on our vans heading to St Bonnet le Froid, which was a long mountain road drive away. Happy to beat the jam and reach in time, moods were deflated by news that P-G will not start SS3 after crashing in SS2. Apparently, he knocked his front left side on a rock (or kerb) and the lower arm mounting broke, despite it not looking too serious in the pic below. The Neo couldn’t even limp home and was out of the race.


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So it’s confirmed that Proton is out of this IRC season opener. Other series’ may have a rule that allows cars to compete on the following day if repairs can be done in time, but not IRC. Out for the day means out of the rally. It’s the worst possible start to the season for Proton, but as a team member says: “That’s rallying, anything can happen”. Being here with the team, I share the disappointment.


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Four stages happened today, and Skoda is leading after Day 1 with Hanninen clocking 1:11:33.4. On his Fabia’s tail is another Fabia driven by Freddy Loix 44.5 seconds behind. Behind the Skodas are Petter Solberg, Sarrazin and Guy Wilks, all driving Peugeots. The best placed non Skoda/Peugeot is Julien Maurin’s Fiesta S2000 in 10th.

A big live image gallery awaits you after the jump.
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LIVE from the Monte Carlo Rally – Proton R3 Rally Team kicks off IRC 2011 with improved car and new driver lineup

January 18, 2011 at 8:24 pm By Danny Tan Filed Under Malaysian Makes, Motorsports, Proton, Proton Satria Neo

We’re reporting to you live from the Monte Carlo Rally, which is the opening leg of the 2011 Intercontinental Rally Challenge (IRC). Yours truly is shivering in the town of Valence, France at the moment, which will be “base camp” for the next few days. By the way, the Monte Carlo Rally doesn’t start in glamorous Monaco, but ends there – the first 9 stages will be held around Valence, the final 4 around Monaco.


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We’re of course here to cheer on our own Proton R3 Rally Team, which will be up against the big boys from Peugeot, Ford and Skoda, last year’s IRC champion. Big name drivers include Juha Hanninen (last year’s IRC driver’s champ with Skoda), Guy Wilks (Peugeot UK, ex Proton driver) Freddy Loix, Francois Delecour, Toni Gardemeister, Stephane Sarrazin (Peugeot Le Mans driver) and Petter Solberg driving a 207. Subaru fans will know their ex-WRC champ.

There will be 120 vehicles contesting the historic Rallye Monte Carlo, which turns 100 years old this year. It’s Proton’s first time contesting the event.


Contest winners with Chris Atkinson and P-G Andersson

Piloting the two Satria Neo S2000 cars (which look really fetching in new 2011 livery) will be Chris Atkinson and Per-Gunnar Andersson. In case you’re wondering, this is a top lineup; Aussie Chris is a former Subaru WRC works driver who finished third here in 2008, while Swede P-G is a double JWRC champ with Suzuki.

The rally starts tomorrow, but we’ve briefly met with the team already in a “shakedown” session where winners of “The Rallye to Monte Carlo” contest Mohd Akram and Nik Mohd Azhar got memorable taxi rides by the drivers.

“We’re not too concerned about being the underdogs, instead, this plays in our favour as we devote our focus and attention to achieving the desired pace, performance and reliability in pursuit of results.

“While it is too early to place any expectations, we believe we have a race-winning car, two world class and very talented drivers and a competitive team to make a big enough impression in IRC,” said Datuk Abdul Razak Dawood, Head of Proton Motorsports.

Team Principal Chris Mellors also declined to put any targets, saying that while the team is definitely gunning for wins and the championship in the APRC, IRC is a tougher challenge and it’s hard to know until racing starts tomorrow. When asked about the contract negotiations with P-G, the Jeremy Clarkson lookalike boss said that it’s going well and we’re likely to see the Swede in yellow for the rest of the IRC season.

We’ll bring you updates from the rally starting tomorrow, where four stages will be held in the mountains around Valence. Stay tuned!

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Proton to provide official cars for Le Tour De Langkawi

January 17, 2011 at 11:27 am By Anthony Lim Filed Under Cars, Local News, Proton

Proton will be continuing its support of the annual Le Tour De Langkawi bike race by being the official car provider of the event, and for the LTDL 2011, which takes place this January 23 – February 1, it will be sponsoring 160 units of various Proton cars to be used during the event, along with a list of exclusive Proton merchandise.

The cars will be used by the race officers, team managers, organising committee members of the LTDL 2011 and the cavalcade convoy procession throughout the 16th edition of the race. Technical assistance for the sponsored cars will come in the form of 50 Proton personnel comprised of technical experts, drivers for the cavalcade convoy and other relevant representatives.

The company has also been given the honour to present the Blue Jersey to the winners of the ‘Sprint’ category at various designated stages throughout the race. The race is scheduled to run through 10 stages across the country in this year’s edition.

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CUSCO to sell Proton Satria Neo rally car in Japan

January 14, 2011 at 6:23 pm By Paul Tan Filed Under Cars, International News, Malaysian Makes, Motorsports, Proton, Proton Satria Neo

Pretty soon, MEM won’t be the only company around doing up Proton Satria Neos as rally cars as today Proton announced that Japanese auto parts company CUSCO will be buying standard road-going Satria Neo bodyshells to engineer and homologate according to FIA Group N regulation competition use.

CUSCO is famous for their aftermarket suspension systems and other parts such as LSDs and chasiss reinforcements and naturally they’ve also been involved in motorsports including rallying. Being a Japanese company naturally the rally cars that they’ve dabbled with so far are cars like the Impreza and the Lancer Evolution.

With the Satria Neo, CUSCO is essentially Proton’s customer – they buy the bodyshells, equip them with CUSCO-developed race components, and then sell the completed Group N rally-going Neos to customers who will compete in Junior Rally Championships in Japan and Asia Pacific. Way to go, Proton Motorsports! :)

Look after the jump for a full photo gallery from Tokyo.
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Proton in talks with Hindustan Motors for Indian contract manufacturing deal – annoucement expected in February?

January 10, 2011 at 11:45 am By Anthony Lim Filed Under Cars, India, International News, Proton

More news has emerged about Proton’s anticipated move into the Indian market – the company is said to be in talks with Hindustan Motors, India’s oldest automaker, to sign a contract manufacturing deal in which it will be using HM’s platform to assemble its portfolio cars in India.

Reports indicate that an announcement regarding the tie-up is likely to be made by around end of February, and Proton is expected to use HM’s Chennai plant, which was initially established for the assembly of the Mitsubishi Lancer. It has also been speculated that the new contract manufacturing tie-up might be extended to HM’s ailing plants that are located in Indore and Uttarpara.

The Proton models that are expected to be initially launched in the Indian market are the Saga, Persona, Exora and Emas hybrid models.

According to an Indian daily, Hindustan Motors’ MD Manoj Jha was qouted as saying otherwise recently. “In the automobile business, there are all kinds of discussions with all sorts of companies at all points of time, but the discussions with Proton that you are talking about is not taking place.”

It has been more than a year since Proton has been mulling to enter into a contract manufacturing tie-up with an Indian firm. In previous years, the company had been in talks with the likes of Mahindra & Mahindra and the Hero group.

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Detroit Electric e63 spotted in Subang – is something up?

January 5, 2011 at 4:49 pm By Anthony Lim Filed Under Cars, Detroit Electric, Hybrids and Alternative Fuel, Local News, Proton

After a serious bout of activity and publicity a couple of years ago, news from Detroit Electric, which was aiming to produce electric vehicles based on Proton’s Persona and GEN2 models, has pretty much gone quiet.

The company signed a supply and manufacturing agreement with Proton in March 2009, where it was to buy the Persona and GEN2, replace the CamPro engine with an electric motor drivetrain, and rebadge them as the Detroit Electric e63 and the e46 models. Later, it also inked a deal with Chinese automaker Dongfeng to use its battery-electric drivetrain technology for the latter’s models.


The e63 during the media introduction in September 2008.

Activity-wise, not much has been happening. Or perhaps there is – reader Kenneth Sow spotted an e63 in Subang Jaya yesterday, running a trade plate and with four passengers inside. The car was unmistakable, since it had bits and pieces of green stickers plastered all over it, along with the Detroit Electric logo pasted on the sides.

Sow reports that as the car was pulling off along NPE towards Subang, it was seen to be making small turns, as if testing out handling, and his observation of the car’s acceleration from 0-70kph (stop/go at traffic lights) was that it was excellent, despite carrying four people.

Which brings us to the question – is there something stirring in the mix, or is it merely a false alarm, it being the Proton boys doing an evaluation on the car as part of their EV studies?

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