The 2021 Proton Persona and Iriz facelifts have been launched today, following leaks and spy images that have offered a gradual trickle of information on the national carmaker’s latest B-segment sedan and hatchback.
Following the first Persona facelift in 2019, Proton’s refreshed B-segment sedan gets a more comprehensive set of updates this time around, now featuring revision to its mechanical specifications in addition to exterior and interior changes.
Here, the Persona is available as 1.6 Standard, 1.6 Executive and 1.6 Premium variants, starting from RM45,800 for the 1.6 Standard, RM50,800 for the 1.6 Executive, to RM55,800 for the 1.6 Premium variant, and pricing is on-the-road without insurance. These prices are with SST, but with the exemption, the 1.6 Standard is RM45,200, the 1.6 Executive is RM50,100 and the 1.6 Active is RM54,900.
The streamlining of variants has dropped the Standard manual transmission variant from the 2019 update, and the Standard, Executive and Premium variants are now RM1,200 dearer than at the launch of the 2019 iteration (SST-inclusive prices), though as we’ll see, equipment levels have been raised here.
Powertrain in the 2022 Persona facelift is a 1,597 cc inline-four with VVT, with outputs rated at 109 PS at 5,750 rpm and 150 Nm of torque at 4,000 rpm.
This is mated with a continuously variable transmission, instead of the four-speed automatic gearbox that was previously rumoured. We understand that Proton has also improved the internals and driving behaviour of the CVT, though no specifics have been revealed as yet. We’ll know more when we get to talk to the R&D team soon.
The top Premium and Executive variants of the Persona will get 16-inch alloy wheels with the Executive wheels in a plain finish, both shod in tyres measuring 185/55. The 1.6 Standard entry variant gets 15-inch alloys shod in 185/55 tyres. The Premium variant is also identifiable by its black roof.
Inside, the Persona dashboard now does away with the 2019 facelift’s two-tone scheme, the contrast now offered in the Premium trim level by the brown leatherette upholstery, whereas the Executive and Standard trim levels get fabric seat trim.
This covers the seats as well as a section of the interior door cards, and the more unified black scheme for the dashboard is in line with the colour scheme that has been used in the Iriz. Up top, the Persona uses a grey headliner compared to the black used in the Iriz.
The central upper stack brings one of the most prominent changes to the interior of the Persona, where like the 2022 Iriz, the infotainment unit is now a freestanding screen that now sits atop the air-conditioning vents in the new layout, compared to the previous configuration that had the vents vertically oriented on each side of the screen. As on the Iriz, the central locking and hazard light buttons are now stacked vertically.
Infotainment kit in the 2022 Persona starts with a standard audio setup in the 1.6 Standard variant, offering Bluetooth and six USB ports – these are comprised of one data port and five charging ports. Here, audio comes through two speakers.
The Executive variant swaps in an eight-inch touchscreen monitor and adds smartphone connectivity, while the speaker count is increased to a total of four. Finally, adding on from the infotainment kit of the Executive variant, the Premium brings voice command, online functionality for navigation, music streaming, weather forecasts as well as 4G and Wi-Fi connectivity.
Voice command in the Premium variant brings control to aspects of the car such as power windows, air-conditioning, navigation, music streaming. Meanwhile, the six USB ports are comprised of three outlets in the front row and two in the back row, and one behind the rear view mirror in order to power a dash cam.
Further equipment upgrades from Standard to Executive include LED daytime running lights, one-inch upsized wheels to 16-inch alloys and Intelligent entry with push-button start. Additional comfort equipment comes courtesy of a central armrest, which covers some additional storage aft of the parking brake lever. Like in the Iriz, the trio of cupholders in the Persona’s centre console are of different sizes.
Safety equipment in the 2022 Persona facelift starts with four airbags (front and side), ABS, EBD, brake assist, stability and traction control and hill hold assist. The Standard variant gets two rear parking sensors. Meanwhile, the Executive variant adds a reverse camera, and the Premium brings a total of six airbags, comprised of front, side and curtain units.
The latest facelifts for the Persona as well as Iriz have attained five-star Asean NCAP ratings, based on testing conducted under the 2017-2020 protocol as the car was submitted for testing last year, before the 2021-2025 protocol (as used in testing the Perodua Ativa) came into effect. The latest protocols focus on advanced driver assistance systems, which aren’t incorporated into the latest Persona and Iriz.
Core colours available across all three variants of the 2022 Persona are Armour Silver, Rosewood Maroon and Ruby Red. The 1.6 Standard additionally gets Jet Grey, which is left out of the 1.6 Premium palette, but misses out on Snow White, which is reserved for the Executive and Premium variants. Finally, Space Grey is exclusive to the top Premium variant.
Here’s the spec-by-spec breakdown in detail:
2022 Proton Persona 1.6 Standard CVT – RM45,800
Gets as standard:
Mechanicals
- 1.6 litre VVT DOHC engine
- 1,597 cc naturally-aspirated four-cylinder petrol
- 109 PS at 5,750 rpm, 150 Nm at 4,000 rpm
- Continuously variable transmission
- MacPherson struts (front), torsion beam (rear)
- Ventilated brake discs (front), drums (rear)
Exterior
- Halogen reflector headlights
- 15-inch alloy wheels with 185/55-section tyres
- Power-adjustable door mirrors, manual folding
- Shark fin antenna
Interior
- Urethane steering wheel
- Leather-wrapped gearknob with silver trim
- LCD multi-info display
- Power windows
- Black fabric seats with manual adjustment
- 60:40 split-folding rear seats
- Manual air-conditioning with LCD display
- Radio/MP3 player with Bluetooth connectivity
- Two speakers
- Four front USB ports, two rear
Safety
- Four airbags (front, side)
- ABS with EBD and brake assist
- Stability control
- Traction control
- Hill start assist
- Rear ISOFIX child seat anchors
- Rear parking sensors
2022 Proton Persona 1.6 Executive CVT – RM50,800
Adds on:
Exterior
- LED daytime running lights
- 16-inch alloy wheels with 185/55-section tyres
- Keyless entry
- Auto fold mirrors
Interior
- Remote bootlid release
- Intelligent entry with push-button engine start
- Push-button start
- TFT LCD colour multi-info display
- Driver’s side auto up/down window with anti-pinch
- Eight-inch touchscreen head unit with smartphone connectivity
- Four speakers
- Reverse camera with dynamic guidelines
Safety
- Front parking sensors
2021 Proton Persona 1.6 Premium CVT – RM55,800
Adds on:
Exterior
- LED headlights
- Black roof
- 16-inch two-tone alloy wheels with 185/55-section tyres
Interior
- Leatherette steering wheel and seat upholstery
- Geely Key User Interface (GKUI)
- Built-in 4G connectivity with WiFi hotspot
- Voice control (including windows and air-con), music streaming, live navigation data
Safety
- Six airbags (front, side, curtain)
2022 Proton Persona Premium facelift at showroom – Space Grey
2022 Proton Persona Executive facelift at showroom – Jet Grey
Looking to sell your car? Sell it with Carro.
Iriz – young people
Persona – old people
Now a day i see more ativa than persona on the road even persona out since 2016. Bad sales?
No, you are just staying beside a Perodua parking yard deswai you see more Ativa than Persona….
Now a day everyone is stuck at home. How’d you make that judgement? Were you sitting at home staring at your Ativa whole day long everyday and came to that conclusion?
Iriz & Persona for all generations, favourite of Malaysians
no more frame less rear view mirror
The rear brake light looks like a sad tear drop crying
Haiya even axia got asa 2.0
Haiyyaa you mean this?
https://paultan.org/2016/12/05/perodua-unable-to-install-esc-on-current-models-except-the-bezza-new-model-due-out-in-2018/
compared to B Segment Flagships, e,g Vios, City, Almera, etc
The Pros – market standard now
1. LED
2. R16 Sport rim
3. 1.6L Campro CVT, more cc to be able to match market range of hp, nm.
4. 1.2tonne more heavy, but FC still only good for Highway.
5. Less legroom for 2nd rows, but still ok.
6. Decent screen like Rivals too, and Saga
7. 10mm taller ground clearance for R16 spec
8. X70 grille, colours, round Logo
The Cons compared to B Segment Flagships Rivals
1. No AEB
2. No BSM
3. No ACC
4. No adaptive headlamp
5. DRL is not integrated, like old vios looks
6. No 2nd row blower
Not only that, no Android Auto/Apple Carplay at all. 6 USB ports for what? 2014 headline feature in 2021.
The pros outweigh the cons and the cons are really things than aren’t in a lot of B segments <100k either. This car is practically HALF their prices mind you.
Eew?
No good. Try harder P1
No good P2 supporter. Try harder
Proton taksubers are annoying bunchs.
still the ugly sabun look as usual.
Proton should add in the front and back camera as standard nowadays.
Before launch also sudah boring
Boring? How is it boring? I think your on crack
I think I am most confused at how they are able to fit 185/55 R16 tyres when considering 15″ wheels also have 185/55 tyres.
There is a jacked up of 10mm as a result.
Should be Additional ground clearance, but higher CG too, altough same 185 wide tire.
lol why not. City GM6 Vspec also had the same tyre profile since 2014.
I used 5 brand new proton – Iswara / Wira / Waja / Saga / Iriz…My advice…..please wait at least 1 year..get all review and make your decision…..i make my mistake with iriz and i will never do it again
What happened to the Iriz?
Early gen Iriz like what my bro had is a good car. Its not like the car keeps on breaking down. Its just that the car is not put together well enough. U will still get rattling after some period of time.
On the cvt, its just how a clutch based cvt works. If people complaint abt it after buying the car then its clear the buyer is buying without any proper test drive.
You are right Pak Omar. But this Iriz (not sure abt Persona) has matured. I bought the first version of Iriz when they first launched. It was a perfect car except for the CVT. When the first facelift came out, I test drive, and the CVT performance was better. I believe this current model of Iriz has much better CVT performance than the first model.
I sold my Iriz last year and took Corolla. It still a CVT car, but from Aisin. It is much much much better performance than Punch’s. And it has good reliability record from all over the world.
nice 16 inch rim.. very identical to City GM2 E spec rim
It reuse Merc’s latest rim minus the horrible inner ring
https://s1.paultan.org/image/2021/08/2021-W213-Mercedes-Benz-E-300-AMG-Line-Malaysia-SA-1-850×551.jpg
Wow, the sabun dugong look still can withstand time in 2021. If you see this as Ugly, please look at the Mercedes EQS. Even Germans design their car with sabun dugong features and curves.
Awesome. But alas, our current economy are not as good. Stop compare P1&P2. Both are totally different target market yet both sales are as good for the nation.
All plastic bodyworks. Slight knock, bumpers fall off. Cannot knock back must replace. Insurance loose RM6K ,owner loose NCB.
You can say that to all the car makers in the world. So is Proton any different?
Hey bestie,
I guess you must a fan of absorbing all the inertia during car crash! Hope you have enough life insurance too!
put ipad in the centre, put shark fin on the roof, change led headlamp, change to sportrim ala honda style, change to leather seat ala conti, put too many red sticker to show sportiness, ok done. no more go to ahbeng workshop.
So Geely only keeping their advanced safety suites for Geely cars?
Malaysians don’t care about safety lah!!! Give them seatbelt warning chime and what they do, they buy and use seatbelt dummy clip because wearing seatbelts is so mafan for them. Give them extra safety features for what.
It is not easy or even doable to equip a car with additional safety features that it wasn’t designed for to begin with. Ask Misubishi about their 2 airbag Xpander.
I don’t think this is the best that proton can do for its original name plates.
i think this persona exterior looks much better than 2019 persona facelift,even 2016 persona is more handsome than 2019
Don’t know why but it hurts my eyes when I see Pesona. Time to redesign this car to keep up with the current thrend and design language or might be left behind.
ideal car for fresh grads. Esp among female!
This persona’s exterior looks much better than 2019 facelift,even 2016 model is more handsome than 2019 one,for me ah
Interior update is most welcomed, but it’s time to change the exterior.. keep in trend
Still retain (and now only transmission) Punch CVTaik and now killed MT option, be prepared to pay BMW price once gearbox condemned no matter how good and how much refined it is, it’s like using beautiful packaging to wrap flawed design/materials. No matter how much improvement done, if it’s flawed in first instance, it’s just a matter of time to get spoiled, no matter how careful and meticulous taking care it. That’s why current Protong with Punch CVTaik got no RV because of this, and as such, buyers need to top up the differences ranging from thousands to tens of thousands RM to bank if they tried selling the car off – double whammy.
Last gen exec atleast get semi leather seat, this gen get ugly corak fabric. Arm rest yeah but back seat still no adjustable head rest. Engine and gearbox still old tech, no major useful updates. Should upgrade to 195 60 r15 instead of 16inch. The rim designs doesn’t match well with the car. Well that’s my 2cents, im a 2016 std persona user till now.
Just bought a Persona today as a token of rememberance for Proton. Yes, its the few last units of Manual gearbox Persona in the market. And its for my 22yr old daughter to drive btw.
I booked a Pesona in April 2021 and suppose to get before Raya. By the month of May they tell me the model is discontinued and now new model is out but they say it can take another 2 to 3 months before I can get the car. What in the world is wrong with Proton..and they wonder why they are losing customers. Why do we even bother to buy Proton cars
False promise of persona premier car release that was placed the order in November 2021
view the proton persona
is the 12v socket gone in this facelift?