What do we have here? A taped up mystery MPV roaming the streets of Malaysia. We know what it is, and you should to if you’ve been following developments of the Proton-Suzuki collaboration that was announced earlier this year.
In January, the Suzuki Ertiga was confirmed as one of the models that will be rebadged as a Proton. News reports from Indonesia quoted local Suzuki arm PT Suzuki Indomobil Sales (SIS) saying that the Ertiga will be exported to Malaysia in knocked down form, from the second quarter of 2016, at a volume of 1,500 units per month.
Production of the KD kits headed for Malaysia will start at SIS’ factory in Cikarang from May 2016, it was revealed then. Proton officially announced in January that the first Proton-Suzuki joint model will enter production before the end of 2016.
Even without the background, it’s clear that the taped up car is the Suzuki Ertiga, as the shape of the compact three-row MPV and its wraparound tail lamp cluster are unmistakeable.
In existence since 2012, the Ertiga was given a minor facelift last year. This test mule wears the pre-facelift bumper, which has a central rear fog lamp and a shapelier “diffuser” area. The 15-inch wheels, which are paired with GT Radial tyres, are from the facelifted car, though. With no front shot, it’s not clear if this mule has already undergone “Protonisation”, but the “B 458 A” trade plate belongs to Proton.
The seven-seat Ertiga has a 2,740 mm wheelbase (Perodua Alza 2,750 mm, Proton Exora 2,730 mm) and is powered by a 1.4 litre engine with 92 PS and 130 Nm of torque. The K14B motor is paired to a five-speed manual and four-speed auto. An Ertiga Dreza variant with a unique face and more equipment is also available in Indonesia and Thailand. There’s a Mazda-badged Ertiga in Indonesia too, the VX-1.
Check out renderings of the “Proton Ertiga” as well as the original Suzuki MPV below.
GALLERY: Suzuki Ertiga facelift at GIIAS 2015
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basically A suzuki in proton disguise
” smart guys will get it ” lol….
seems like a good deal for many then…
This is good. If proton makes it properly, it could be a myvi/alza/avanza killer. Just make sure the qc and after sales do their job properly.
nah… proton’s massive factory costing billions of ringgits only able to stick proton badges on other people’s car…. and call it their own of course… good at ‘stealing’…..
Good, make it affordable around 50k max then Rakyat will support… Dont make excuses like costing this costing that and make it expensive.
Testing something that was already done by Suzuki ??? . It’s this redundant and time and money wasting ?
Insanity is doing the same thing over and over again and hoping for a different result – Albert Einstein
Just stick the badge and sell… stop all the wayang Proton
50K????!!! overprice!!!
1985 rebadge. lepas 31 tahun…2016 rebadge. 2046….
Toyota oso rebadges mazda, so?
Like it or not, this is a partnership, it’s a rebadge by Proton with license from Suzuki, just like Axia/Myvi/Alza. It’s called business. Stealing is what those China manufacturers doing carbon copy of Land Rover, Tesla, etc. There’s a difference, you have to learn it.
put exora engine, 1.6 cfe turbo into this ertiga might be awesome
I trust a Suzuki engine more than a proton.
stupid idea. you are fired
Brace for a whole lot more spyshots and striptease for the Exora replacement. Maybe Proton needs 1 million old Exora sold first before launching rebadged Suzuki van. That means, maybe 5 years to go minimum. So get your puke buckets ready.
When i wan to place booking for proton exora premium, was tell by the salesman that waiting period for exora premium is 2 months…
Bro, jgn lupa test Power Windows. itu yg paling mustahak
Dah 20-30 tahun pun masih fail. Bukan test tak test. It’s tukar supplier kroni2.
cerita power window dh lapuk bro..lfetime warranty
If proton properly? No they wont.
However you slice it, it is hard to beat a Toyota/Daihatsu car!
This will be the thorn in Proton’s lineup of 5 star crash rating cars.
This Indian car looks like bad news.
OMG…welldone P1 to be copycat again, thanks to Suzuki for let P1 copying/rebadged.
If want to buy proton product, buy the rebadge one.. dont buy model of campro engine & CVT bising Punch Powertrain..
The sales of this will be low just like Suzuki Swift with 1.4L engine. Unless Proton price it right then it will be a hit.
1.4 engine should be lower then Perodua Alza Advance.. RM50K something..
Rebadging = Malaysia way of national pride
nobody cares..
It doesn’t look good.
Looks like Exora is a failure
Exora is still quite okay for the Malaysian. Better than these ertiga mpv. Are u dead serious install a 1.4 NA engine @ 92 PS for a 7 seater MPV…? I felt pity to Proton decision maker for not using his/her brain.
Have you owned an Exora? P.O.S. with spare parts like a simple hose taking 3 months to replace.
Many still don’t understand that the most important number one R&D for Proton right now is to replace anything related to Campro.
Yup.. i owned Exora 1.6 CPS since 2010. Done all my service until now in Proton Juru. FYI sir, Proton start give trouble to their customer regarding spare parts delivery time right after DRB take over from Khazanah. So, shame on you DRB.
Pls go see UK market where MPVs like Vauxhall Zafira and VW Touran, or Toyota Verso comes with a modest 1.6 engine in normally aspirated form.
Enough to move the vehicle, and not racing them at traffic lights.
i am seriously confused which car is better? i thought ertiga is better exora or exora is better than ertiga?
Will it the usual proton safety features like vsc or just abs+ebd n twin airbags?
No need to test already…just rebadge and sell here.
stupid la… bring in a ‘suzuki’ SUV, ASAP
Amazing management skills, spent billions to develop Exora only to dump it and rebadge Suzuki Ertiga… like after a mother gave birth to own baby but later abandon him to adopt pendatang baby
Exora is also 7 years old. Time to have new face (although still a relatively old car)
Exora will be higher class than Ertiga. Next year another major exterior facelift EXORA will come out with luxurious feature and 5 star ANCAP. #fromProtonStaff
How sure you are about this?
For the new Exora project at least install new hardware like better engines and transmission, new fresh look and others. No need to rebadge and proudly say its made in Malaysia by Proton.
This is not an Exora successor, it’s one segment below, same segment with the Alza. It will probably cost less than an Exora.
It’s perfectly acceptable for a car company to have a three-to-one ratio of self-designed cars to rebagded ones. That ratio may be lower for smaller car companies (like Proton and Perodua). By 2017, Proton should have the new Saga, new Persona, Prevé, Suprima S, Iriz and maybe the old Exora as well (about 5 or 6 self-designed models). This is compared to the new Perdana, new Axia-rival and new Alza-rival (that’s 3 rebadged models).
Most of Protons models will remain self-designed. The reason why Proton has partnered with Suzuki is simple; 1. they can cut billions in model development costs, 2. they are granted access to Suzuki’s expertise and technology, 3. they can bring more models to the market faster, 4. they can gauge market sentiment in sectors where Proton has a limited presence. (and 5. lain-lain reasons.)
The last point above is especially important. Let’s say, if Proton spends RM 800 million developing the new Perdana by themselves (no rebadging), but it fails to sell, it would be a huge loss for the company and to an extent, the taxpaying Malaysian as well. With platform sharing, Proton only needs to spend 200 or 300 million in R&D. Less risk is involved. The balance cash reserves can be spent on other models like the Saga and Persona, which have always been best-sellers for Proton. It only makes sense (and cents) to allocate reserves to the segments that need them most.
ppl like you, who commented with facts and reasonable truth no body cares to reply… but other comments with the feel of hate and anger, ppl discuss about it.
hahaha… what’s wrong with our Malaysian nowadays?
if you all think that imported car is much more worth the money you spend (or affordable), go ahead and buy imported cars. don’t forget there’re still ppl (like me) cannot afford to buy expensive car, so Proton is just nice (and affordable) for me, especially an MPV for family…
after reading all the condemned comments, i wonder, you all really want Proton to perform better or want it to close shop?
What’s gonna happen to the Exora once this car launches? Is this the Exora replacement?
Ertiga is some sort of a medium size MPV also known as compact MPV in some markets is similar to models like wish, stream, citra, livina.
Exora on the other hand is approaching a full size / large MPV similar to NISSAN Serena and Toyota estima and therefore in a different category to ertiga.
Wasn’t a wise choice for proton back then since it only has 1.3 and 1.6 engine. But it went thru a failure once with Juara and learnt what Malaysian wants in an MPV.
I strongly believe Proton only learnt how to cut cost and secretly removes the tether.
Better Closed Down the Sake of Name PROTON…
While waiting for the next gen of Exora, this should be sufficient. Put in the 1.6 engine form Iriz should be ok. Or the 1.6cfe.
Please rebadge Suzuki Ciaz
Suzuki Ertiga is MPV which is convenient. More comfortable than competitors in its class such as Avanza & Honda mobilio. But why the name was changed to the Proton? Why the condition of Proton now?
my suggestion:
1. no faux non-functioning rear lamp ya!
2. stability ctrl fitted as std.
ESP, SIX AIRBAGS and ABS must be standard across the whole range of that Ertiga as a proper family MPV, unlike the Iriz which I personally think looks and feels very shrunk-up although its driving dynamics are awesome for its class :D :D
Given the facts that (1) most parts are going to be sourced from Suzuki associate in Indonesia (which offers no ESC for all of its CKD cars), and (2) Ertigas sold in other parts of the world, such as India & South Africa (Maruti) are not offered with ESC, I doubt this MPV would have ESC as such module may require Suzuki’s permission and extra cost in technical detailing and re-specifications.
Based on Honda’s recent reluctance to allow Proton to include ESC in their upcoming Perdana 2.0, I suspect Suzuki had also enforced such terms in their ‘partnership’ agreement.
DRL as standard!
We have two option for the lokk then. 1st the Suzuki look, 2nd the Mazda VX-1 look.
Add in the CFE engine into this ertiga.. It will be selling well if priced right… Overall the Suzuki ertiga looks good to me. Hope the rebadge process won’t mess it up
I race with this car on 18th April, from Alor Gajah toll, this car race damn fast, expect this car will have better performance
but ppl said this car only with 1400cc, can race fast?
Is it Proton mad already??? Why need another MPV since you have in-house designed Exora???? How you going to price this Proton Ertiga???
Use brain dumbwit! Of course lower price than exora.If this one anything more than average proton,it’s definately gonna kill alza sales!
we have to salute the stupidity of Proton…
while the existing Exora being pushed to Taxi, it shows how well it sell..
Proton economy of scale? its plan stupidity strategy..
Saga, Perdana, MPV, all launch in losing market even for other brands…when idiots run the show, 1.5b gone faster than ever.
I hope they would do a major make over for the car not just simply copied the basic car and change the bodykit. At least do it how Perodua do with their models. E.g. Passo vs Myvi looks a bit identical but we can still differentiate it.
Sadly that’s what going to happen, like the perdana p1 only allowed to change the car appearance.
Keep bashing but p1 still there & definately gonna live more than basher.Meaning p1 will still be there once u die! Hahahaha
This is one of the hard works from Tun….it is targeted to enter small mpv segment which is dominated widely by Alza….
Thank you Proton for giving Malaysian a new choice and keep it up the good works….
proton. i’ll seriously hold the purchase of alza for this. plz make it safer than the abs-less alza k? tq
Like the perdana, p1 is only allowed to alter the car’s appearance only. So it’s safe to assume the safety equipment will mirrors the donor car
This is a good car. very comfortable and spacious. experienced this car in my recent visit to India.
People obviously didn’t pay attention to previous article regarding this mpv. P1 will sell this as a ckd model meaning the body shell and drivetrain will be brought from Indonesia to p1 factory, all thats left for p1 to do is screw everything down and put their own exterior features. So no p1 own engine and usual safety combo (meaning no vsc). So stop asking what engine and safety features it will have because this car will have the same features as it’s Indonesian donor car
How does this compare to the Exora? Space wise that is…
design x catchy la,, susah nak jual ni, nanti jadi cam proton juara, perodua rush