Perhaps one of the reasons why there are still many Proton Wiras on the road today is because there are OEM replacement parts available for owners to keep their old faithful running. But all good things come to an end. The Star reports that Proton and local third-party manufacturers have stopped manufacturing Wira parts for good.
“It has been 10 years since the last Wira was rolled out and 25 years since the first model was produced. The original equipment manufacturer (OEM) companies found it no longer economical to make Wira parts and they are concentrating on newer models,” the report’s unnamed automotive industry source said.
He added that although the Wira shared identical components with the Mitsubishi Lancer that it was based on, spare parts from the Japanese model is also no longer available in the market, as it has been more than 30 years since that generation of Lancer was produced. The source said that new Wira parts currently available in the market are the last remaining stocks.
This piece of info coincides with the daily’s recent report that the Wira is a hot target of car thieves. General Insurance Association of Malaysia (PIAM) statistics show that 654 units were stolen last year, and these are just the reported cases. The insurance companies say that the old cars are stolen and cannibalised for parts, which can be found in “potong kereta” yards.
According to the report, a total of 952,216 units of the Wira were sold from 1993 to 2009. It has been estimated that of the nearly one million Wiras sold, at least 85% of them are still in service as we head towards “Wawasan 2020” (get it?). It might be hard to spot one in the city today, but the good old Wira is a common sight in smaller towns – for instance, they’re everywhere in Rawang, usually with loud exhausts and/or windows down.
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so if i’m the sole manufacturer of wira parts and with 85% of wiras still on the road, i would’ve make a good profit.
U wud, really. Worldwide, still got lotsa Evo1-3 running and much of these Wira parts r compatible with them, but this generation of Lancer/Wira r notorious for rusting. Eventually the cars will rust away and the parts business for them will die together.
highly irresponsible. 1 million Wiras have been sold. And 85% of those Wiras are still running on the Road. This is according to statistics.
This is what you get for trusting Proton. Soon, Malaysia won’t have any Proton cars. Only Geely. Habis lah the Saga and Persona owners
Spare parts are still available for 1980 Toyota KE70. That is why worldwide people trust Toyota.
Many owners are bent on keeping their old faithful 20year old Wira. No matter production of spare parts for this Mitsubishi thoroughbred has been stopped and the parts are difficult to obtain in the market.
now that spare parts are no longer available, theft count sure to increase with increase needs for spare parts.
Just read a couple days back The Star, stay away from Wira and if you have it…please be careful. It is now the most sought after car for theft because of it parts.
Taiwan parts might available always.
While 3d print companies will see opportunity.. i wonder how this can be govern…
A majority of Malaysians still have drive their old 15 year old Protons and Peroduas because the shitty devaluation of Ringgit, low pay salaries and high cost of living.
I mean we would love to have a new car smell, shiny new paint and better fuel consumption on our cars. But not worth it because it will depreciate on the ridiculous loans we used to owe the banks.
Now the sad part is our old cars aren’t safe and are targeted by thefts. My friend’s car got stolen last week. It is unbelievable and shocking. At times I use Grabcar/Uber and public transport services. Guess sooner or later, I am ready to not rely on cars.
Lucky Malaysians… Public transport now more efficient and reliable.
Malaysians all live in Klang valley isiit ???
Ride a bike instead….easy to maintain and cheap to run.
The news said OEM Manufacturer who has ceased the production of spare parts, not third party supplier. So, we will still sees Wira’s for another 10 to 15 years on our road.
Probably “atas angin” proton OE suppliers. But major japanese and european OE suppliers still make parts for the wira. KYB kayaba still makes absorbers for wira, as is DENSO for aircon parts.
BTW Just look at perodua. They even do a special spare parts for out of warranty cars under PROganti. You can still get kancil original spares from them. That is why they are profitable, they milk out every money making chance that they have.
Proton, struggle selling new cars, and don’t want to profit from millions of ready customers in the form of spareparts for those wiras on the road.
If P1 have Millions of READY Wira customers, they will not shut down the OEM parts production. Most Wira owners are not Rich so they will go to Kedai Kereta Potong for their spares which is in abundance currently.
that because absorber n aircon part are common that can be use on any cars.. non-common eg headlight housing, instrument cluster. Those wira headlight housing cannot be use for myvi..
U rarely need the headlamp housing though. The best thing about wira headlamp is they are made of glass, therefore will not turn yellowish and opaque over the years like a typical myvi.
Frontal collision will need new headlamp housing, no?
Headlamp getting yellowish is common in most cars with plastic headlamp, just sent to the car wash for polishing and voila! Shiny as new!
the exterior polish effect wont last long. after few months you will see it becoming yellow or dark again.
So in 2009, Wira was competing with Gen2 and Persona in the same segment? LOL
Wira are compete with gen2, persona, waja in C segment.. kah kah kah..
Wira was smaller and in the B segment that time. Gen2 & Persona was B+ segment.
No Wira OEM part, No problem.
Replacement parts still can be found easily at half cut scrap yard.
half cut depends on luck . i can tell wira car is superb reliable my wira 2005 until now only gearbox n some minor problem . the rest like engine , aircond still working in good condition till now
How ironic, my old 2004 wira only had air cond problem which was fixed easily and had a very good functioning gearbox when i gave it away last year. That car was with me everywhere except for 2 states; Perlis and Sabah
10 years of spareparts production from model end is normal in automotive. Ironically, Saga1 parts manufacturing will outlive Wira, the Saga1 being phased out much later prior to Saga2 BLM.
This model reminds us of Proton’s halcyon days. There were so many on our roads.
there goes the part for my C99.. looks like car thieve for this car will rise again
Good move! Those are nuisance and air pollution on the road!
“car lover”
Ummm how is that a nuisance? Mine doesn’t break down often and older cars than Wira give pollution too…
Why Rawang is mentioned in article. How about other places.
am i missing something..actually i came from Rawang..Myvi everywhere.
Someone staying in Rawang lor.
1993-2009 just 992,216 unit wira sold. Myvi just take 2005-20l7 to reach 1 million.. kah kah kah!!!
The hire purchase was much stricter back in the 90’s. You need at least 10% downpayment, max 7 years and harder to get approval. Myvi is mostly sold with low downpayment, 9 years loan and banks are on a lending spree.
In other words, MY pipu getting richer despite some saying that we heading to bankruptcy. Such nonsense.
How does one getting richer by owing more money and longer repayment to bank??
When banks can see they have the ability to repay (being richer), that’s where they able to give them the loans. In another words, john was right, Malaysian people are getting richer to enable unlocking of higher loan value.
those who has intention to keep the car sure have money to custom make these spare parts in the future
the wira interior dashboard and doors has “soft touch” material
shame on newer cars has hard plastics ^^
Oh yes. It’s nicer than my Exora
I can still see a lot in KL, not only in kampung and usually they drive slowly on the road.
Yeah probably don’t wanna stress it too much
Still driving my old 2002 Wira 1.3. Has never broken down but I send for regular service. Have done several mods myself by buying part over Lelong, eBay and through sellers on Facebook.
“They’re everywhere in Rawang.”
Including mine, Danny…..