Archive for Proton Persona

I guess today is the day that most of you have been waiting for the day that the car that promises to set off a snowball effect of recovery at Proton. First sightings of the new Proton sedan were early this year in April, but we actually got to see 3D renderings of it in March. Little did we know that it was a real car to be put into production.

UPDATE: Proton Persona SE now on sale for RM59,800!

As most of you have known by now thanks to a tip off by The Edge, the new Proton sedan is called the Proton Persona. The name is not unfamiliar as it has been used before for the UK market Proton Wira. This makes the name somewhat apt, as it is finally the car that will replace the Wira, something the GEN2 did not do when it was introduced a few years ago.

Proton has taken steps to ensure the Proton Persona is what the customer wants, not what the management wants. Many models clinics and surveys have been conducted to ensure market acceptance. After my first impression of the car at the media preview earlier this week, I must say that Proton has done a relatively good job with this car!

Read more on the Proton Persona after the jump.

Click here to read the rest of Proton Persona launched: Proton’s new sedan

UPDATE: Proton Persona SE now on sale for RM59,800!

When a new national car is about to be launched, many will start to speculate on the name, and this is also the case with the new Proton sedan.

Word passing through the grapevines is that the new Proton sedan will be called the Proton Persona, and there was even a little photo being circulated of the sedan with the word Persona on it’s number plate.

Today we get a little confirmation – though not 100% sure as it is not from Proton’s mouth. The Edge carries an article on the new Proton Sedan and it calls the new car the Proton Persona. This name is not new, as it has been used by Proton in the past as the export market Proton Wira’s name in the UK.

The article also mentions Proton targets to sell about 4,000 units of the Proton persona a month, though industry analysts from RHB Research Institute thinks a figure of 2,000 to 2,500 Proton Personas a month is more achievable and sustainable.

Proton has placed a few units of it’s upcoming new sedan in four venues across Malaysia, but before you excitedly head on to the venue to have a look at it, there’s just one thing – the sedan is in a giant box! What you can do is just peek through a few holes to have a look at the sedan inside. Not sure if there is a light in the box so it might be best to bring some form of torch light along! UPDATE: The interior of the box is lit!

The giant boxes with the new Proton sedan inside them are located at The Curve, Mutiara Damansara, Selangor (10am to 10pm); Proton showroom in Jalan Sultan Ahmad Shah, Penang (8am to 8pm); Proton Showroom in Plentong, Johor (8am to 8pm) and Giant Hypermarket, Jalan Gambang, Kuantan (10am to 10pm).

“Were happy with the excitement building up for our new sedan. PROTON began to accept bookings from 22 July 2007 and all the public could see then was a visual of the silhouette of the car. That was enough for quite a number to commit and make bookings for the new sedan. However, we have been receiving many requests that we show more and that was what prompted us to come up with this peekaboo idea of showing the actual car, but just enough only,” said Proton managing director Datuk Syed Zainal Abidin Syed Mohamed Tahir.

Click to enlarge

Reader Chaku has updated his new Proton Sedan artist’s impressions as some of you have requested variations of his previous impression with different bootlid spoilers. Well, here they are – complete with modified rear tail lights similar to the aftermarket LED tail lights available in the market. Look at all variations after the jump.

Click here to read the rest of More artist impressions of the new Proton Sedan

Usually the fan art of modified cars only surface AFTER a car is launched, but thanks to nearly a month’s teaser period that Proton has given us with the upcoming new Proton Sedan, some have started modifying the look of whatever they have available.

Blog reader and forumer Chaku (aka Maru) has whipped up this nice artist’s impression of the new Proton Sedan with a bodykit based on the 3D renderings posted here back in March this year. He has added a small bootlid spoiler, subtle side skirts and a front lip, but the rear bumper gets a new diffuser-like design.

Of course, no sporty look is complete without larger sports alloy wheels and a reduced wheel arch gap. What do you think? The LED brake lamps available as a third party aftermarket accessory would complement this design well.

I think the new Proton Sedan like all modern Protons have tremendous potential for aesthetics enhancement.

Proton has posted more information on it’s teaser page’s FAQ section. They’ve revealed the exterior dimensions of the new sedan. Let’s compare it to the GEN2 and the Waja.

*Not sure about the Waja’s weight range

The teaser page also reveals the base-line model will have 15 inch steel wheels and wheel covers with 195/60/R15 tyres, central locking, 4 power windows, alarm with immobilizer, front disc and rear drum brakes, reverse sensors, fixed rear seats, and a normal CD player with 2 speakers.

Proton New Sedan 1.6 Base-line (M) AT – RM 48,800.00
Proton New Sedan 1.6 Base-line (M) MT – RM 45,800.00
Proton New Sedan 1.6 Base-line (S) AT – RM 48,350.00
Proton New Sedan 1.6 Base-line (S) MT – RM 45,350.00

The medium-line model is further enhanced with alloy sports rims and 195/60/R15 tyres, a driver seat airbag, a foldable split rear seat bench, steering wheel audio controls, an MP3-capable CD player with 4 speakers, electrically controlled door mirrors, and foglamps.

Proton New Sedan 1.6 Medium-line (M) AT – RM 52,800.00
Proton New Sedan 1.6 Medium-line (M) MT – RM 49,800.00

The top of the range high-line model gains additional features over the medium-line model – antilock brakes and electronic brakeforce distribution, disc brakes on all four wheels, both driver and passenger airbags, and remote trunk opening.

Proton New Sedan 1.6 High-line (M) AT – RM 55,800.00

This would be the first Proton sedan with a standard driver airbag on all models except for the baseline model for budget-conscious buyers!

In related news, Proton has reported 200 bookings for the Proton New Sedan in the first two days of the pre-launch booking period.

Proton has put up a teaser video of the Proton New Sedan up on it’s website. It shows the new front grille of the sedan clearly, and from what I can tell so far it looks exactly like the one we saw previously on a set of 3D renderings!

Have a look at the video after the jump.

Click here to read the rest of Proton New Sedan Teaser Video

Proton has started putting up a teaser promotion for it’s new sedan on it’s website. We call it the GEN2 Sedan, however it looks like the new Proton sedan might most likely be called something else altogether.

Click here to check out the teaser. There’s not much information there really, other than a shadowy outline of the car which we’ve seen already in all the spyshots so far. However, if you click on the booking link, you’ll be able to see a list of colours available for the new car – Blueberry Tea, Iridescent White, Light Gold, Metal Grey, Solid Red, Solid White and Tranquility Black. You can book the car for a RM500 booking fee.

Prices:

Proton New Sedan 1.6 HL (M) AT – RM 55,800.00
Proton New Sedan 1.6 ML (M) AT – RM 52,800.00
Proton New Sedan 1.6 ML (M) MT – RM 49,800.00
Proton New Sedan 1.6 BL (M) AT – RM 48,800.00
Proton New Sedan 1.6 BL (M) MT – RM 45,800.00
Proton New Sedan 1.6 BL (S) AT – RM 48,350.00
Proton New Sedan 1.6 BL (S) MT – RM 45,350.00

(M) – Metallic Paint, (S) – Solid Paint

Model range:

BL – 4 power windows, CD player and basic features.
ML – all BL features with additional alloy rims, foldable rear seats, MP3 player and electric door mirror.
HL – all ML features with additional dual airbags, ABS, EBD and standard Captor alarm.

All variants of the car will include an extended warranty package which provides warranty support and coverage for up to five years. The financing package for this car carries an interest rate of 4.1%. Delivery time from booking is approximately 4 to 6 weeks, and status of delivery lead-time will be communicated regularly.

The teaser page now has a preview of each model’s specifications and a simple FAQ. The FAQ states that the booking fee is transferable to another Proton car if the car has not been delivered yet. It also pegs the official launch date at 15th August 2007, so we’ll just have to wonder what the name of this new car will be until then. But everything seems to indicate it will not be called a GEN2 Sedan.

All of the information on this page are collected from Proton Edar’s teaser page and booking page for the new Proton Sedan.

It seems like today is spyshot day. Spyshots of three new Proton models all at once? We saw what could be the new Saga replacement model or Proton BLM earlier, and the GEN2 Hatchback with CPS too. The next model that we’re anticipating Proton to launch is the new C-Segment sedan that we’ve all been referring to as the Proton GEN2 Sedan, though the lack of badging on the rear does not confirm this until the car is launched.

This white sedan was spotted near the HICOM Proton traffic light by a reader’s friend, who was kind of enough to send it in to me. It’s a pretty high res photo, so you can see some portions that I’ve enlarged after the jump. Do let me know if you want any other section of the photo enlarged, I’ll add it to this post.

One thing that we can observe from the many spyshots that are being captured is all these Proton cars are hitting the road for test drives more and more frequently than before, which means the cars are nearing production… I’m excited. Are you?

Click here to read the rest of New Proton GEN2 Sedan spotted in white

Reader acbc wrote in with these photos of the upcoming Proton GEN2 Sedan on road tests! It doesn’t look very much different other than the fact that it’s a GEN2 with a proper sedan boot tacked on to it, but of course this is not the final production model so we might see some changes here and there as a mid-life facelift. It looks very similiar to the 3D renderings posted in March. If you look closely at the front grille – is that a copy of Honda’s new floating grille design I see?

Photos also do not tell us what’s under the hood, so we might see the introduction of a Campro engine with the recently announced Variable Intake Geometry system developed by Bosch for Campro. These photos also do not tell us of the interior, which might have been improved, like how the Proton Savvy Facelift has improved on the interior with a more suitable color scheme. Or a glovebox might have been added.