We’ve just been given a peek at the new Proton X70, and one of the officials on hand to give a presentation on the car was none other than head of design Azlan Othman, who explained the Malaysian design cues on the national carmaker’s first ever SUV.
Much of the exterior and interior styling has been lifted from the Geely Boyue on which it’s based – after all, the company was mainly focused on the conversion from left- to right-hand drive. But the design team did find the time to incorporate a couple of unique touches for our market.
The most prominent is the grille, which replaces Geely’s concentric “expanding cosmos” item. The chrome surround has been changed and now features a notable dip in the centre, and Azlan said that the shape was inspired by a bow. This means that the bonnet lines flow through the grille and wrap around the shield-shaped Proton grille, he added.
Meanwhile, the grille insert now features what Azlan calls an “infinite weave,” an interlocking pattern that is claimed to be inspired by designs found in Malaysian craftsmanship, said to be evident in products such as batik and Malaysian wood carvings. The pattern can also be found on the speaker grilles, replacing Geely’s cloud-like looping pattern.
Apart from the obligatory Proton badge at the front and the Proton script on the headlights, tail lights and rear number plate garnish, the rest of the design is as per the Boyue, which Azlan believes is no bad thing. He said that the existing design cues such as the muscular body surfacing and the intricate headlight design are reminiscent of the body and eyes of a tiger, which Proton has adopted as part of its identity.
Looking at the car itself, we noticed another change, this time probably made for practicality’s sake. The Boyue is fitted with only one rear air-conditioning vent in the centre, but the X70 gets two separate vents that can be tilted individually. This has likely been done to bring the car in line with local tastes, as most buyers would have been accustomed with twin vents instead of just one.
It’s also clear that this is a more involved “rebadging” job compared to the Ertiga, not least because of the sheer work done to convert the car to right-hand drive that goes beyond the bare minimum required. Aside from flipping the dashboard, seats and door panels, the centre console has also been rebuilt for RHD, with the electronic parking brake button shifted to the right – this is not always the case with some conversions.
That’s on top of the usual challenges in converting a car designed for left-hand drive markets to right-hand drive. Often, the engine and gearbox of a left-hand drive car is in the way of where the steering column would be on a right-hand drive one, so things would need to be moved around to fit. There’s a lot of effort involved, and the last thing you’d want is a bad conversion.
Forget the aftermarket kits used on American cars, such as the CKD Ford F-150 sold by Hamawangsa Kredit, or French cars with the bonnet release and fuse box (resulting in a tiny glovebox) on the wrong side – even a company with the industrial might of Mercedes-Benz can be guilty of subpar right-hand drive conversions, with off-centre steering wheels and cramped footwells. There’s none of that in the X70.
So what’s next for Proton? Azlan said that the company is forging on with a new design philosophy with a focus on being progressive, harmonious and spirited – words that were inspired by Malaysia. He added that Proton Design is now part of a global design family within Geely, which has studios in Gothenburg, Hangzhou Bay, UK, Barcelona and California, and it was previously reported that the Malaysian studio will participate in Geely’s global projects.
GALLERY: Proton X70 colours
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What Malaysian influence? Teh tarik hook?
I work for Proton and in actual fact, we guys never did anything lah. Everything was done for us.
Anyway I hope this car is a success, at least I will get bonus this year
all the best P1! Another new game-changer~~
Our own people now reduced to Grill designers… soon Better just fire everyone and hire Theo Chin from Paul Tan .. cheaper and better
All the bells and whistles …. All that matters is how a China engine mated with a China transmission handles – compared to say Honda CRV or Mazda CX5… A test drive is KEY apart from pricing.
Its a matter of time, the full range of Proton cars will be reduced to rebranded Geelys models… So what is Proton for then ? Might as well just set up GEELY dealerships than to continue to hoodwink innocent and gullible Malaysians who are still loyal and nationalistic. Proton is dead and buried the day Geely took over.
Proton must kick out this Azlan or else Proton continue to suffer poor design which leads to low car sales. This guy can’t get his design right and yet still not resigned for the design failure!! So sad and frustrating!!
That’s right…let’s all underplay the work done by locals to glorify the Chinese.
what work done by locals? purportedly 500 enginners sent to china and this is what they produce ? are you claiming that conversion to right hand drive cannot be done by chinese, is a skill unique to malaysians ? its time to sack 90% of these engineers and designers since they are clearly no longer needed.
If you are talented, please move to a better automaker lah. Like P2 for example.
What is so talented with P2? Teh tarik hook? Even at kedai abang u can add lah
I am too work for Proton and directly involve in design space and agree with Azlan on the above. The touch is inspired by our local talent. Perhaps Mohd Kapar is just an ordinary office boy who doesnt really knows whats going on and always lepak at the cafe all the time borak kosong from 8am-5pm.
Influence ? … where to stick the badge. Comical car company this Proton
Pls dun use my name. P2 is King of rebadge
Warranty coverage and price are determine factors
So,at last someone dares to confess…this Boyue is 100 percent from Tongsan.Only the Tiger logo is Malaysian.
So in other words,Dr.Li has to start chopping at least 30 % of the huge workforce…all kiao kar,goyang kaki lackeys.
Just pathetic Mr.DRB…might as well bring in the full range of geeely cars from China,with right hand conversion.
The Iriz,Suprima,Exora,HOndana …all can bungkus.
nobody denying Boyue/X70 came from china. youre right on that. but youre wrong to claim nothing was done on P1’s part.
“Approximately 750,000 man-hours have gone into the making of this model, and the test mule has clocked over two million kilometres of reliability testing.”
“In any case, converting a left-hand drive car to a right-hand drive one isn’t as simple as moving the steering wheel and pedals to the correct side. Aside from a completely new dashboard, switchgear, power window buttons and even the front seats, there would also need to be changes to the mechanicals as well.”
but then you only know how throw locals under the bus, what else is new?
youre definitely not Bnagsa Malaysia material.
This is no doubt a nice SUV. Only those not even been to china still think that china is tongsan. Bdh.
ctrl c + ctrl v model also need design head…??? just gaji (cost) to transfer to buyers only I think.
So why P2 has design team too?
Why buy xc90 if this cost RM 85k
If this cost rm95k, I’ll sell my toyota immediately. Can’t wait for the show car… congrats proton
i oso work at proton as transmission engineer. We done nothimng, all done by Geely. Kapar let go minum teh
They are talking about design laaa. the did changed on the minor interior design part. not the whole car had to be changed. this is CBU. come on. shame on u work for proton again?
Clearly Proton need to appoint a new chief designer that is not clueless and unimaginative.
That head of design fella, name xxx mat “lan” really need to go. Why care to explain the minor changes: steering, grille & bumper.
He has more to explain why the design does not succeed for the past 20+ years until present. that is more than two decades!
Still remember this guy explained the design cues of Savvy – “inspired by Raptor”!
what happened afterwards, was a history.. :)
Basically a lot of BS from azlano, as usual. Even more surprising is that he is still retained at that company.
Pretty shocking 30 years have passed and we should be the one teaching Geely how to make a car. Geely was born in 1997. Proton was born in 1985. It is Proton who should be teaching Geely how to build a car because Proton is the elder brother.
Good luck on finding a doctor when you are 80 years old.
still re-badge after all…
head of design is doing copy paste …
Please read the article “It’s also clear that this is a more involved “rebadging” job …because of the sheer work done to convert the car to right-hand drive that goes beyond the bare minimum required”
Just a bit of batik here and there but 98% of the car is designed and made by Geely. Full stop.
Geely copy VW car brand hierarchy:
Geely = VW
Proton = Audi
Lotus = Porsche.
Proton = Audi? Seriously man. Proton is like Seat and Skoda, and actually not even in the same league as both brands when 30 years ago they were all actually selling under the budget B segment in UK. Look at Seat cars and Skoda.
Infiniti = Volvo
Nissan = Geely
Datsun = P1.
Seat and Skoda are too much for proton. Proton is more like Trabant, a bankrupy Soviet era company.
Daihatsu Sirion with Perodua badge is Malaysian pipu most favorite car, man. You didn’t see all the frog looking cars on Malaysian roads?
this model cannot be the turn around of Proton, but yet Proton need to have new model this year ! Proton simply cannot understand on what actually “rakyat Marhaen” needs and want. Yes this put their standard up (so called) but believe on me, this model will not go far. Who want to buy China product?
To have 500 volume per month is a bonus if they can get that. even CRV so called king of SUV in Malaysia “merangkak” to get that figure.
let see how far….
Its not about chinese product or not. Its about the demand of the suv in the rakyat. Most of rakyat prefer small car, sedan and mpv for family. Refresh the saga with better tech and safety, refresh the persona with more sedan proportion body and roomier interior.
Unless the price from 65k- 80k, sales will be OK or else susah lor
No Apple carplay, android auto. Skip
I hope his Malaysian influences didn’t involve power window.
Ceh azlan. Design Iriz persona ke laut tiba2 rebadged boyue kata ada sentuhan dia pulak
if the most prominent change has been the grille, i am not convinced the design is authentic given the similarity to https://s3.paultan.org/image/2016/04/2016-Subaru-Forester-2.0i-P-ext-7.jpg
same 3 x 3 interlocking designs. the only addition is the row at the bottom that isn’t interlocking! i wonder what the subaru called them back then. definitely not batik.
i truly agree with you…yes…it’s definitely too similar in my opinion..
well, a pillow talk about a front grill design
This is second wind for Proton. Hope it manages to address the common problems with their quality and after-sales service issues. I am a Malaysian who have little love for Proton but wants it to succeed but please do things right soon and get the competitiveness up ASAP. Time’s running out. Meanwhile other makers are forging ahead. Go get ’em and good luck Proton.
Apa lagi p1 fans….book book book lagi…buy buy buy lagi. Bkn main puji, beli la. Pas tu review yerrrrr. We waiting.
Since this is only automatic, I will wait until test drive. If it got manual option, I wud have paid my deposit alredi.
Manual? Dino era..
U dunno the fun of a manual box, kid
Converting LHD to RHD is not difficult la. Look at wira RHD and LHD (1 unit on display at proton COE). The steering box is not obstructed at all by engine and transmission combo, even though X70 is AWD unit. Things would be easier if power steering is electric instead of hydraulic
Then ur a fool for not knowing the Lancer gen that Wira was based on, alredi had LHD when they r assembled and sold in Pinoy & USA. That display unit was one of these foreign made with Wira parts.
I’m not saying that the Proton design is ugly or what but I think a lot of buyer will revert it back to the original design lol.
Who in the right mind will want to revert back the rear aircon twin outlet to the ori single outlet. Surely not in Malaysia.
Wow.. no campro anymore
same goes for Inspira, Accordana, Ertiga- all use donor car motor. what the fuss?
If @ 60k ok. If @ 80k and above… lol
just fire whoever is the chief designer at proton
what design he made so far? all crappy looks
even mimos can design better ^^
” you can see here the edge of the glovebox doesn’t align with the dashboard… , this is deliberate , as we are paying an hommage to our past models ” ….
This is expected from pre-production models. Ever seen the large bumper gaps in new Honda City?
Azlan as usual talk big but delivers little…
Anyway this car is gorgeous….can’t wait for the launch date
Not discriminating, but maybe instead of Batik infinity weave design and bow shape dash being Protons’s main focus of modification, perhaps they can do something about improving aero and drag as well. Premium looks are all a bonus if the car’s strength is as good as its looks. Else it’s just another tin can rolling down the road.
looks good, better than Geely design…
now lets wait the million dollar question price..over 100K, good luck,,
priced below rm100k this car is a steal, cx5, crv, xtrail and chr all tabao
It’s quite obvious Proton didn’t do much .
The rebadging well, proton has a long history with it and must be highly skilled by now.
What the rakyat wants to know is, would it be sold below RM50k?
What P1 did was under the skin, namely the LHD to RHD conversion
its strange you say that, considering the satria neo, waja, gen2, persona, savvy, iriz, blm/saga, preve and suprima s were all not rebadged. sold below RM50k? you really must be dreaming.
Why proton always likes to get people to ‘book 1st before seeing’ the car??
The days of the Waja is gone…nowadays people dont like to book 1st before viewing/test driving the car….at least when proton is concerned!!
If perodua, we know its a sure winner but proton, we’ve been conned too many times!!
The dashboard is so outdated design.this model of geely has been out for some time. Ha, all the best la. With this model, proton will not survive. Where is the car for rakyat?
why go for silver color panel on dashboard? looks gross and tends to glare the driver during noon….
Your skills only limited to changing steering wheel, grill , emblem and slapping on proton badges?
Only fool people will buy lousy Honda quality with Honda models designs look like donkey design and Honda models designs looks like outdated and ugly as well as Honda service quality is very terrible and even Honda assembly quality is very terrible too for all Honda models. Only smart and clever people will buy Proton, Mazda, BMW, Mercedes, Toyota, Kia and Volvo with Proton design, Mazda design, BMW design, Mercedes design, Toyota design, Kia design and Volvo design looks beautiful, well-designed, more attractive, more fashionable, more stylish and more elegant as well as Service quality and assembly quality for Proton, Mazda, BMW, Mercedes, Toyota, Kia and Volvo is improving, well progressed and well maintained
I am curious if the turn indicator stalk is on the left of the steering. If so it is not so good as it is following European and US design.
Unfortunately we drive on the left side (RHD) while most countries drive on the right side (LHD). That is why most car manufacturers design their car based on driving on the right side (LHD). Even the Japanese that drives on the left now design their car in LHD form. If only our previous leaders changed our driving side while they still can in the 60s like what Sweden did. Now too late already. Offset pedals and cramped footwell will always be a feature in all RHD bmw, audi, mercedes etc..
Good luck with your car when you plan to drive to Thailand and Singapore. And, tell that to Malaysians in Johor or the northern states near Thailand. A silly comment at best.
Made in China Boyue priced at conversion rate RM61k to 97k compare to PotongKapra X70 priced at RM86k to 140k just for rebadging, is just either a bad joke or a nightmare that you can’t seem to wake up from eternalty.. Same with the Yamaha R15…
Well I will the X70 based on value against the new Myvi. I will buy only if the score is near.
(Value = (Feature + Quality) ÷ Price
1st thing u shud consider is safety, and Mivi got no safety so why consider it? Boyue is automatic winrar.
Malaysian sure buat nice aftermarket bodykit… lagi cantik n sporty… the lower spec sure kacau HRV sale… X70 got turbo… ppl will go for lower spec..
Aren’t we proud of the technology transfer Dr. M envisaged with each national car project????
Syukur bukan enjin CamPro
how many cup holder do you have.. p2 set a standard of 7 for malaysian market
I laughed…
You all so naive, be thankful for Geely!!
Or else Madey will pump 3 billion every year into Proton.
Now proton will finally fly.
Design head? Design your head la!
This car is designed & made in China ok..
It is possible to make X70 a seven seater?
I believe tis modal is only a rebadged project with minimum investment from proton. As we all know, proton is in bad shape financially. So whatever they disclose are purely a marketing gimmicks. Let the buyers be the judge. Looking at the model and review, most probably the price would be sub 90k,hopefully. Anything beyond that, is quite difficult to sell for proton.