The idea of a Proton SUV started off way back in 2006 at the Geneva Motor Show with the Lotus APX Concept. It was said to be built on the Lotus VVA platform and have a 300 horsepower supercharged 3.0L V6. These naturally aren’t numbers that are suitable for a Proton (too costly) but many dreamed of the idea that somehow Proton could equip the base platform and chassis with more modest equipment and sell it as a Proton. After all, Proton was missing an SUV in it’s line-up back then and is somehow still missing an SUV in it’s line-up today.
In 2010 it was announced that Proton had started a cooperation with Youngman to sell derivatives of the Proton GEN2 in China and supply engines to the Chinese company. The GEN2 hatch and Persona sedan did go on sale there, first with Proton designs and then later Youngman applied their own styling. In 2011, things got more interesting – we saw spyshots of an SUV that Youngman was developing based on the Proton GEN2 platform. Proton subsidiary Lotus Engineering was said to be helping them out with the development work.
Then in 2012, the Youngman T5 was unveiled at the Beijing Motor Show. It measured 4,508mm long, 1,782mm wide and 1,559mm tall, had a wheelbase of 2,730mm which is longer than the GEN2, and at that point of time, it was said that it will be powered by Proton’s 1.6 litre CPS engine. We did get a good collection of interior and exterior shots which you can check out at the original Beijing 2012 Youngman Lotus T5 story. It looked good and people began to fantasise about it sold here as a Proton, but things have been since then. The T5 has not gone on sale yet and has not even been added to Youngman’s website.
Today, we’re bringing you live photos of the Youngman T5 from Auto Shanghai 2013, which we attended. It’s still pretty much the same car as what was unveiled in Beijing. Some Chinese automotive websites said the car will go on sale in China in April 2013, but that was the last piece of news back in February.
The 1.6 liter CPS engine is also looking less likely now, with Mitsubishi supplying the 4G93M VVT for Youngman’s more recent cars. We are checking out what they’re saying about the T5 from the Shanghai motorshow, but are not having much luck, which leads us to believe there’s nothing new to report, that’s why there are no reports.
We were also told at one point in time that Proton was considering using Youngman’s GEN2-based SUV to sell as a Proton SUV in Malaysia. In programming terms you could say that Youngman forked the GEN2 and modified it to become an SUV, and Proton wanted to backport the fork’s code changes back to the main branch. But nothing seems to have been announced officially so far in relation to that. Ditto the Exora-derived SUV which was called the Proton Lekiu Concept from KLIMS 2011.
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Being youngman(a brand which I have never heard of) it is an OK design. Compared to the slap on any part attitude the stavic’s designers had, this has a bit of sence.
From what we can see here, this Youngman does a much better job than jaguh kampung no2.
Lotus designed this.
harrier + crv = rojak suv
low in idea.. just copy paste =)
Non of the design for this SUV is similar to Harrier or CRV! You have rojak cock eye need Optical England specs!
More like he needs Rojak Optical Specs.
i hope moderator will update girls from shanghai, we wanna compare thai vs korea vs chinese models!
Yes, this is very important and should be priority no. 1. It is essential for this blog as no matter what car you drive, everyone here can definitely agree that checking out cute girls from car shows is a must.
Long live 4G93. Scrap the macampro. Total junk.
I like ur description ‘macampro’, kudos…
4G93? Is it the same 2.0l unit that powers Mitsubishi’s Lanccer Evo I-IX series?
Instead of just talk, the chinese does. So much for “Pesaing kita sudah menjadi besar …” haha…
“After all, Proton was missing an SUV in it’s line-up back then and is somehow still missing an SUV in it’s line-up today.”
– Jaguh Kampung No. 2 will forever missing an SUV!
– Maybe after 5 May 2013, if lucky for Malaysian car consumer, when Rafizi become MITI Minister, this Jaguh Kampung No. 2 is assign to history and extinct just like dinosaur!
I concur. We should sent proton to scrapyard or graveyard.
p1 always do thing slower than others. the chinese work out with lotus (even lotus is subsidery of p1) deliver better efficiency by developing more products than p1. what a shame!
The Chinese have the upper hand when it comes to capital. In fact, all of China has surplus funds (external debt-free). Malaysia does not. Proton does not. Proton is producing cars at a loss. It takes several years for them to make a profit from the initial loss with each new model. Only then can Proton make a new model. This explains why Proton only has 6 models in its fleet. The only way Proton can get out of this never ending cycle is if they learn to sell their cars in more export markets. That way, they can make more profits and hence, more cars, instead of depending on the local market for all of their income. Don’t get me wrong, Proton’s cars are okay, it’s just that a majority of their staff are lazy and incompetent. How hard can it be to open up some new branches in South America and Eastern Europe ? The Chinese are beginning to dominate these regions already. If Proton doesn’t act fast, they’ll drown in the ocean of Red.
open brances in south america and estern europe?…and sell what?..persona, gen-2, inspira(lancer’s twin), exora…non of these models I bet wouldn’t be sold and attractive enough.Hello, if you want to give an idea..think rationally la..with all the kaput models & yet still dream big want to go there??…dream on..
This is the problem most of M’sian “yet still dream big want to go there??…dream on..” always have a big negative things…take a look at Korean car how were they 15 years ago?? do you still remember the Hyundai Atos??? Kia Spectra?? how do they looked?? not that attractive right? even worst for Ssangyong…Not everything start with a success..Now u see China automotive..they start as a copycat car manufacture. . .but slowly they evolved to became a better car manufacture…n slowly the world using their car…now in M’sian itself brand such as Cherry,GWM,MG(Coming Soon) n M’sian are using it..interms of population the China market is way to big n not all of the China people want the same brand(Not everyone have the same taste)…CHeers!
i told so many times oledi.. proton is so slow. faster la proton. pls la pls la.
my family bought our 1st proton in 1995. Bought several more protons after that n the latest one is saga fl 2011. see proton, we r supporting you! so pls move faster!
I wonder….. where is E-mas
4G93??? that’s dinosaur age engine… no offense… it is quiet an engine… why not the newly acquired e01??? why didn’t Proton do something??? so much for joint venture…
I agree with someone said that other car makers do start with a copycat type and some has unatractive sharp but they do make a start somehow..Pls dont compared with those who had started much ealier.I still remember my father first car,looks unattractive,mind you it was way back in the 60’s.
we are very fortunate having and are on the steady track.This is our stepping stone,the SUV..i sure buy one by cash…