Archive for Proton

Reader Nazril snapped these two videos of the Proton MPV stuck in a jam along Jalan Hang Tuah in Kuala Lumpur. That place has been continuously jammed for a long time now, making trips to Low Yat to get a dose of gadgety goodness frustrating to say the least. Anyway a prototype vehicle stuck in a jam is a golden opportunity to get snapshots of the interior, and I’m sure many motorcyclists who rode past the MPV have already seen the interior, but as our friend here was driving a car himself, it wasn’t quite possible to grab an image of the interior.

But anyhow, these are nearly as good as watching the MPV inch along in traffic in front of your very own eyes as the camera phone lense is pointed right at the MPV for quite some time – we’ve got over 2 minutes of video. We also get to see the size of the front brake disc which is larger than usual (it fills up nearly all the space right to the edge of the wheel) for a Proton, naturally because of the higher amount of weight it has to stop in comparison to other Proton cars.

The latest news is that the Proton MPV’s launch has been postposed to April 2009, so it’s another 3+ more months worth of waiting and we’ll be able to check this baby out in the showrooms! Thanks to Nazril for these shots!

Click here to read the rest of Proton MPV video snapped in a traffic jam along Jalan Hang Tuah in KL

Thai business daily The Nation has picked the Proton Savvy as one of Thailand’s top 10 cars in 2008 as it has a cheap price, good acceleraton, and almost go-kart-like handling. That is some decent feedback. Other cars on the list include the Jaguar XF, the BMW 320d, the Volvo S80 3.2, the MINI Cooper S Clubman, the Honda City, the Honda Jazz, the Ford Focus 2.0 TDCi, the Mitsubishi Pajero Sport and the Subaru Impreza STI.

The editors seem to love the WRX alot as it also appeared on their 2007 list, which consisted of the WRX STi, the Lexus LS460, the Mercedes-Benz CLS500, the Alfa Romeo 159, the MTM RS4 (tuner car), the Honda Accord, the Lamborghini Superleggera, the Toyota Prius, the Nissan Navara and the Chevrolet Captive diesel.

Related Posts:
Proton increases 2008 Thai sales target

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The launch of the eagerly awaited Proton MPV has been postponed a month from its original March target launch date to April 2009, announced Proton managing director Datuk Syed Zainal Abidin Syed Mohamed Tahir without elaborating on the reasons why the launch was delayed. He also added that the first Proton MPVs for the export market will be shipped off in July 2009, three months after the Malaysian launch.

As far as the other projects are concerned, they’re still on track so far. There are CKD partnerships in China (Youngman) and Iran, while talks on CKD partnerships are underway in India, Egypt and Jordan. It’s still a mystery at this point who Proton’s Indian partner will be, though there was a rumour a few months ago about this partner being Argentum Motors.

Apparently there is also a project to develop a new fuel efficient engine (to replace the Campro?) that will bear fruit in 2 years. Let’s hope this is a small displacement low pressure turbo engine with strong low end torque for a relaxed city drive. Other things to look forward to include a facelift for the Proton Satria Neo, which has already been spotted on road tests.

Related Posts:
Proton MPV exclusive initial details revealed!
SPYSHOT: 2009 Proton MPV sheds some of its disguise
Proton MPV design registered with UK patent office
SPYSHOT: Proton MPV next to a Nissan Grand Livina
SPYSHOT: Proton MPV on the road
VIDEO: Not one, but TWO Proton MPVs on the PLUS highway
VIDEO: 2009 Proton MPV on the MRR2
Undisguised Proton MPV spyshots

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Proton subsidiary Proton Parts Centre Sdn Bhd is now a corporate distributor for Thule products. Proton Parts Centre now has the right to distribute Thule products through dealers in Malaysia, Indonesia, Brunei, Singapore and other export markets which Proton has a presence in. The Thule brand originates from Sweden and is no stranger to motorists, as it is one of the most well-known manufacturers of roof racks, roof boxes, bicycle carriers, and other similiar means to enhance your vehicle’s luggage capacity. This new agreement is timely and a sign of Proton readying to launch the new Proton MPV, likely in the next 3 months, as roof racks and roof boxes would complement an MPV’s usage well.

Dato Nadzmi Mohd Salleh is back in Proton as the group Chairman of the company, effective from the 1st of January 2009. He previously held the managing director position from 1993 to 1996, and was also appointed director and deputy chairman of Proton Edar from September 2005. He will replace Datuk Azlan Hashim, who served as Chairman since end-2004.

The new chairman is also director of several companies such as Ranhill Utilities Bhd, JT International Bhd, VS Industry Bhd, Kumpulan Kenderaan Malaysian Bhd, and Syarikat Kenderaan Melayu Kelantan. He is also the president of the Badminton Association of Malaysia.

54-year old Dato Nadzmi is currently the chairman/managing director of Nadicorp, whose business involvements include Transnasional buses, Cityliner buses, Plusliner buses and the Nice luxury bus.

It could be a coincedence that Proton’s top man during Mitsubishi-rebadging days is making a comeback right after an announcement that Proton will be rebadging a Mitsubishi car for the next generation Proton Waja. Let’s hope that Nadzmi is the right man for the job!

An agreement has been inked between Proton and Iranian distributor Zagross Khodro for the supply of automotive parts to Iran which will allow Zagross Khodro to assemble CKD kits of the Proton GEN2 in Iran. Assembling the Proton GEN2 locally in Iran will enable more competitive pricing.

The first locally assembled Proton GEN2s are expected to roll off Iranian assembly lines in April 2009 from Zagross Khodro’s assembly plant in Borujerd city, southwest of Iran. The two companies have previously inked two other agreements on licensing, technical assistance and equipment purchase.

Proton and Zagross Khodro’s CKD partnership goes back to the early 2000s where the latter assembled and sold the Proton Wira in Iran. It previously sold fully imported Proton cars in the Iranian market. Zagross Khodro was established in 1996 and claims to be Iran’s largest private automotive company.

Proton managed 863 bookings at the 25th Thailand International Motor Expo held this month, which is the sixth highest amount of orders received at the event among the other car manufacturers with an exhibit at the show.

Thailand’s “national car manufacturer” Toyota held the top spot of course, with 4,193 bookings. This was followed by Honda in second place with 2,552 orders, Isuzu with 1,760 orders, Chevrolet with 1,194 orders and Nissan with 1,008 orders. Total orders gained for all manufacturers at the show is 14,000 orders, which included brands like Mitsubishi (756 orders), Mazda (767 orders), Ford (301 orders) and even Malaysian brand Naza with 154 orders.

The top Proton model sold at the show was the recently launched Proton Persona CNG with factory-installed dual-mode petrol or CNG fuel capability.

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Proton will install rear seatbelts for the following cars for free under its free rear seatbelt installation program.

The affected cars are: 144,000 units of the Proton Saga/Iswara LMST produced from 2004 to 2008 with the chassis numbers between B933165 to B244061, and 81,930 units of the Proton GEN2 produced between May 2006 to June 2008 with chassis numbers between G000001 to G107849.

For affected users, please head on to this form to set an appointment. Hopefully the form works and Proton will contact you to set an appointment for you to bring your car in to get your seatbelt fixed.

Penang Chief Minister Lim Guan Eng says when the time comes for the state’s fleet of Proton Perdana V6 cars to be replaced, the new cars will not be Protons. He added that foreign imported cars like the Toyota Camry are an option but the new choice of car will only be evaluated when the time comes to replace the Perdanas.

He continued to say that Proton’s service was “abysmal“, and that even though Penang State Secretary Datuk Jamaludin Hasan had written in an official letter of complaint, it went unanswered. Penang’s Proton Perdana V6 was quoted to be able to rack up more than RM30,000 a year in maintenance costs. Perak quoted RM1 million over 4 years for its entire Perdana fleet, and Terengganu quoted RM1.15 million for the same time period.

From a personal experience, my 7 year old Proton Perdana V6’s gearbox (shown above) just started experiencing problems a couple of months ago and was quickly rectified for a little over RM2,000. Other than a few cases of the suspension arms and bushes wearing out, it’s still serving me well. Sometimes it’s how you drive it and how well preventive maintenance is done. If you intentionally let things go really bad before you fix something, costs can bloat up way over the top.

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ACA arrests 3 men related to Perdana V6 case
Perdana V6 fleet cost Terengganu RM1.15 million in 4 years
Terengganu Perdana V6 maintenance handled by drivers and superior officers
Terengganu will justify E200K purchase in detail
New Mercedes-Benz E200K cars for Terengganu exco
Proton: no warranty claims recorded for Perdana V6 executive that needed over RM100k in repairs

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Proton managing director Datuk Syed Zainal Abidin told the Oman Economic Review that Proton was developing a turbocharged engine set for introduction by the years 2010 to 2011, just in time for a facelift of the 2009 Proton MPV which could see the introduction of this turbocharged engine.

The turbocharged engine would be in line with the current market trends of having a small displacement engine but forced inducted to produce the equivalent horsepower of a larger motor, usually with more torque, and more fuel efficiency. The engine will have the power output equivalent to a 2.0 liter engine. We could be looking at a 1.6 liter Campro turbo or Campro CPS turbo engine producing about 150 horsepower and perhaps 240Nm of torque.

Proton is also set to spend RM5 billion over the next 5 years on R&D efforts, which is about RM1 billion a year. Other efforts (as quoted in the report) include developing a small competitive car, acquiring diesel engines licensed from an international OEM (Fiat? Peugeot?) because of their popularity in markets such as India, hybrid and electric technologies, the possibility of a joint model with Lotus (spiritual successor to the Lotus Carlton based on a Proton maybe?), and the reduction of weight of Proton models.

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