Proton Motorsports and renowned Japanese automotive parts manufacturer Carrosser Co Ltd (CUSCO) announced at the Tokyo Auto Salon that the Satria Neo will officially go on sale in Japan for motorsports use. CUSCO is the authorised Proton reseller in Japan and is responsible for the importation and distribution of the Neo in Japan.
This is the fruit of Proton Motorsports and CUSCO’s joint-development to produce Group N 1600cc Proton Satria Neo rally cars, which was first put on display at the 2011 Tokyo Auto Salon.
The cars competed in last year’s Asia Pacific Rally Championship (APRC) and made a clean sweep of the 2WD categories, winning the APRC 2WD Manufacturer’s title, APRC 2WD driver’s title (Karamjit Singh) and APRC Junior driver’s title (Akira Bamba). Meanwhile, in the Japan Rally, Shuhei Muta also drove the Satria Neo to win the JN3 Class title.
Developed for the Japanese domestic market, the rally cars are sold by CUSCO to those competing in the Junior Rally Championships in Japan and Asia Pacific. Proton and Carosser have also jointly-developed Group N components for rally use on the Neo. A well known name in aftermarket performance parts, CUSCO is the only independent firm in Japan to compete in all categories of the All-Japan Championships: track racing, rallying, dirt trials and gymkhana.
“Besides the collaboration on vehicles, we are also looking to expand our business, not only in Malaysia, but globally in terms of jointly-developing performance parts and accessories together with Carroser,” said Datuk Abdul Razak Dawood, head of Proton Motorsports.
“The main objective of this joint-development is to further deepen the prosperous relationship with Proton Motorsports by presenting the Japanese market with a sporty automobile that has proven its capability as a solid motorsports base machine. Moreover, Carrosser will strive to dedicatedly support various teams and end users utilising Proton machines in any given genre of motorsports, especially the APRC,” said Carrosser President Tsutomu Nagase.
Looking to sell your car? Sell it with Carro.
Can we have the Cusco Edition in Malaysia???
previously JDM rules….
now the first step for MDM rules in japan :D
what’s nxt? M-Pop? hahhaa
Kudos to Datuk Razak Dawood for having the balls to bring P1 to Nipponland…….
Banzai !!!!
It is in line with my strategy…..hehehehe……welcome back to P1.
mana gambar saga blm r3??
tengok la dulu ni: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WPH-G0eSWU8
tolong la tengok la dulu ni: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WPH-G0eSWU8
Indeed, this is a great news for Proton.
P/s: wondering what will P1 bashers write here… :-)
nobita might buy this proton car, Sinyu may drive GTR….
they will still bashing it…why dont sell it in our motherland?
Predict next Basher comment:
How the sales at Japan?!? Sales report?!?
Predict next P1 supporter comment:
Sales sure limited, due to limited production by Cusco…
I’m not surprised as they will still find a way to bash. :D
wishes that the cusco neo is actually for sale to the malaysian public
cannot lah..cusco more on rally features..daily use memang tak praktikal…unless u have a team for motorsport rally, then u can buy one.
No picture of the cartoon ultraman running away from tsunami?
Out of topic, bro.
that comment of yours are offensive. Tsunamis are no joke…
perhaps proton can consider to take over Cusco into one of their performance division.. and we will one day have a performance factory car from proton..
*Sarcastic Mode On* – Ni lah Malaysia, orang luar dapat barang Mesia yg power mower segala2nya. Orang Malaysia dapat sampah – *Sarcastic Mode Off*
On a different tack – is the car road legal so that any person could buy it as an “everyday” car?
“..sold by CUSCO to those competing in the Junior Rally Championships in Japan and Asia Pacific..”
bukan utk daily use, utk motorsport sahaja, lain kali baca satu entry tu..kau ni baru baca tajuk dah komen…kan dah malu
LOL, he’s being sarcastic la.
y u no see *Sarcastic Mode Off*?
nizam80…kan kau dah malu jgk
sudah tiada kemaluan :D
Rally cars are required to be road legal. Thus it can be driven on the streets.
I really doubt the sale of this is going to be great in terms of the Japanese taste of quality and performance, also with competitors in the rally racing world such as Mitsubishi Lancer/Evo, Subaru Impreza, Toyota Celica etc, this Satria Neo would be soon outcast in Japan
James, hope you followed the results of the recent APRC in CHINA. Both the S2000 Neo finished 1st and 3rd place in ovearll competition that consisted almost 40 over Turbo charged cars 4WD (mainly the Evo’s and Subaru’s).
Do you also realiaze, the 2 units Group N (Production cars, PROTON-CUSCO Team)) Satria Neo’s, standard 1.6cc FWD cars piloted by Karamjit Singh & Akira Bamba finished in podiums for Class 1600 category, and help PROTON to Win the manufacturer title. The imazing fact here, they finished overall 9th & 11th position !! and putting into shame for most of the Evo’s & Subaru which was outcasted behind them.
BRAVO Satria Neo !!
Well frankly, the sale of this Satria Neo would be undesirable in Japan, especially with other die hard competitors such as the Mitsubishi Lancer/Evolution, Subaru Impreza, Toyota Celica etc already dominating the core fields or rally racing. Anyways, a good advancement by Proton..
The comparison you are making are invalid as those cars you stated are of different categories. The Evos and Imprezas are competing in 4WD category, whereas the Neo is 2WD.
Toyota Celica? Unless now is 1990s, people don’t use Celica for rallying anymore.
In Japan, they have a lot of category of racing including classic cars.. Even AE86 also have their own category, why not those Celica 3S turbo wif 4WD?
lol.. Celica used to be a hunk but now it’s a sissy
Hello… Don’t you read the post?
This is a dedicated rally and race machine, not a bread&butter car to go from point A to B. Posh & fancy bits are not important.
The Satrias have proven record of ‘tapau’ing the rallying legends Imprezas and Evos in the international arena. So please talk with facts.
Yeah, bro. I agree with your comment. CUSCO ain’t stupid like most ‘Japanese-wannabe’ here in Malaysia. They (CUSCO) selected this car for a good reason.
“….by presenting the Japanese market with a sporty automobile that has proven its capability as a solid motorsports base machine.” – Carrosser President, Tsutomu Nagase.
this is nothing. wait until p2 make their myvi 1.5 executive limited merdeka editon as rally car in japan.
myvi ???? takat masuk engine besar, tapi ambik korner mcm ayam…. not stable ..
Huh… sampan handling Myvi can go rally? Cant wait to see one to turn turtle or do a double sommersault in rally race.
a’ah ye la..after tat fly on top of other van?suspension gendut ada ati nk rally. Angkut atas pokok baru tahu.hahahahuahuahua
I sure hope you’re being sarcastic. Right?
hahaha..
consider this marketing strategy, to intro the car to japan, when there is demand for street version of satria neo, after that they will start selling, maybe..
ask yourselves 1st – would you buy cars from Papua New Guinea or Zimbabwe?
you have inferiority complex problem..plz go see doctor
see doctor my a55, how long u spent to gimme 15 thumb downs?
so, Malaysia equal PNG & Zimbabwe? maybe if all Malaysians have brain like you..
You just can’t understand simple English. You think your standard/mindset is on par with the Japs?
looks like a 20 year old rojak touched-up and resold!
i dig japanese girl on the two sides
should share more picture with the model.
the car…no comment. not trying to bash it but because this car is something we know so well on the look. so this news don’t have much interesting bit.
:P
yam seng :-D
Guess what? the engine they were using to win APRC was stock CAMPRO….
CDX, you’re right !!
The fact is from CUSCO that they never stripped down the CAMPRO engine …despite doing the 4 rounds ARPC (Karam’s & Bamba’s car) and the other car that Won the local Japan Rally Championship 2011 (4 rounds) driven by 21yr old Muta-san.
mana ada orang beli proton ka japan
ada… CUSCO..
mane ade org bli brg cusco kat mesia?
ade – yg bukan pakai potong je yg bli
Good base car for grassroots motorsports…its supposed to be the more affordable of the bunch no? That cusco livery reminds of the monster time attack impreza, impressive machine that.
I just cant help but wonder where we stand if proton must depend on an aftermerket performance manufacurer for its motorsport undertakings………., well who cares, biznes is biznes…
Hate neo, ugly piece of crap.. Hate itbigtime.
then this entry must be killing you right, seeing how success the neo is
ada aku KESAH?
wow… only neo sold in malaysia? how bout saga flx? still tin milo kosong?