The Proton Saga was updated yesterday with some mild design changes and several new features, helping to keep the evergreen entry-level sedan fresh on the market. Of course, we have read your comments, many of which are a variation of “why is this yet another facelift?” and “why still no new Saga?” and “Proton is now a facelift company.”
We put these comments to deputy CEO Roslan Abdullah and he said he understood the public sentiment, although he did list the company’s reasons for opting against a full redesign. He said a company as small as Proton, which derives a vast majority of its sales from the Malaysian market, doesn’t have the volume to recoup the investment of an all-new model. “If we want to follow the footsteps of, for example, Japanese OEMs [in developing a new model] every five to six years, we need a big volume for amortisation.”
Essentially, Roslan is saying that without the economies of scale, the national carmaker needs to maintain the same base structure underneath to keep costs low, only making “enhancements for certain requirements so that the price meets the customer’s expectation.” He likened the Saga to the Maruti Suzuki 800 in India, which received few changes from its second generation in 1986 to its discontinuation in 2014.
“If we change everything, the vendors will surely make noise because of the unmet volume. We could price it higher so that everyone is happy, but then the customers won’t be happy,” he said. “We cannot just change. If customers can afford to pay for it, I’m OK, but actually they cannot.” We should point out that any price increase would put the Saga within range of the larger and more advanced Persona, which starts a RM45,200 – less than RM1,000 more expensive than where the A-segment sedan tops out.
Exports to other countries – including Proton’s largest export market Pakistan, where local assembly of the Saga kicked off in October – are part of the company’s efforts to build sales volume, Roslan said, presumably to justify a larger investment in a new model.
Lest we forget, the Saga has been kicking around for nearly 15 years. It received a comprehensive makeover in 2016, but the car can trace its roots – and its platform – to the Base Line Model (BLM) that reintroduced the Saga nameplate in 2008. It lineage goes back even further than that, as the BLM was essentially a sedan version of the Savvy hatchback, which first made its appearance back in 2005.
That 2016 revamp was significant, however, with far-reaching visual, mechanical and structural changes – enough that Proton refers to the car as the third-generation Saga. The 2019 facelift built on that strong base with considerable updates of its own, including a new infotainment touchscreen and a switch from the much-maligned Punch CVT to a Hyundai-sourced four-speed automatic.
Yesterday’s Minor Change 2 (MC2) was less major but it did bring some welcome upgrades, such as the new Proton logo, redesigned 15-inch alloy wheels, a bodykit on the new range-topping Premium S variant, a retuned chassis, expanded availability of stability control and the third interior makeover in six years.
It also introduced a number of convenience features Proton added to its other models over the years, including keyless entry, push-button start, auto-folding door mirrors and (finally) an external boot release. Pricing ranges from RM34,400 to RM44,300; you can read our launch report here for full details.
GALLERY: 2022 Proton Saga 1.3L Premium S
Looking to sell your car? Sell it with Carro.
Answer is: poor people cannot be picky
I launched the Saga back in 2008 when I became PM, and the old saga is still being resurrected for the 147times. And 14years on I am heading to Sg buloh inn for a good well deserved break. This proved how evil deeds and bad genes hv wrecked Malaysia almost into oblivion during my time and through 64yrs of corruptive and skin color biased BN UMNO failed ruling. Good thing is, rmmbr saga rmmbr me. Adios, rip BN UMNO…
Copy paste: “Excellent example of simply typing a comment by plucking info from thin air.”
There are well equipped quality 2nd hand car for buyer too.
Kesian..Dah miskin buat cara miskin lah. :-(
Or rather since it is still a best seller there is little incentive to change. B40 dont need replacement model every 5 years, they just want a car that works reliably for their needs and cheap spareparts.
It’s really a combination of them trying to recoup their investment for this car as well as buying time for the development of the upcoming model. Either way, this generation has reached its peak and Proton has 2 more years to figure out their next move.
The cost of develop totally new Saga would wipe off entire Geely profits made so far from Proton.
If same sohai designer screwing up the new Saga design that lead to low sales (historically proven) it will be a huge risk and losses to Geely.
So the safe bet is better rebadge whatever given by Geely and also do what you do best: rebadge others.
They need to increase their revenue and increase their profit, that Revenue should alocate to R&D. If they want to make a Homegrown model …
Rather spend more on hiring new Chief Designer than dumping cash on failed costly R&D (eg.ricardo engine and OCH bocor).
Honest speaking Malaysia market are too small to have national car. From start proton is wrong project by Mahathir.
Proton is a financial pit hole for Malaysian tax payers but a political tool to it’s creator. That is why I swore to never buy anything created by him or his sons. I have paid more than my fair share from the elevated taxes on all other cars ever since this pit hole was created. Of course, his fans don’t see it that way. They are happy to see their tax money being wasted because otherwise, there will be no jaguh kampung.
Korea market is also small for 2 major brands like Hyundai and Kia, and smaller brands like Daewoo and Ssangyong. But they gain great success globally.
They failed because of their internal management failed, not because of local market.
Daewoo & Ssangyong great success globally? Sez who? You? Hahaha.
https://paultan.org/2009/12/24/gm-sends-cfo-to-help-unprofitable-daewoo-arm/
https://paultan.org/2022/03/31/ssangyong-acquisition-by-edison-motors-falls-through-korean-automaker-back-to-looking-for-new-buyer/
So,if the market for national car is too small..then what is the logic for launching P1 ,in first place?To fulfill some vvip bloated ego?10 Billion $$$$gone down the money pit to bail out P1.
The market is too small for 2 players, we need to amalgamate P2 into P1 and only have 1 national car maker, that will bring back the profitability and lessen the burden on taxpayers.
this is the plan to slowly kill the real Proton cars and replace them with Geely cars, maybe i few years the name Proton also will be defunc and cars will be badged as Geely. Billions of RM gone for nothing.
well, at least the chassis is still feels more rigid than bezza.
Under the same Asean NCAP protocol for testing result.
Proton Saga no VSC- 4 star Asean NCAP, Adult 13.33/16.00 pt, child 71%/100%.
Perodua Axia no VSC – 4 star Asean NCAP, Adult 12.91/16.00pt. Child 71%/100%.
Perodua Bezza no VSC – 4 star Asean NCAP, Adult 15.38/16.00 pt, child 85%/100%.
Comparing these 2, Saga result is comparable to Perodua Axia.
Take perodua results with huge buckets of salt. They are well known to send specially prepped cars and variants you cannot buy in P2 showroom just for ASEAN NCAP crash testing to game the results. When you see P2 car crashes it never looks as fine as those tested.
Buy from a brand that you are sure to walk away from a 150kph crash, buy Proton.
What a Salty comment…
If yes, pls report to the anti corruption team.
Otherwise, your statement is true or fake?
MIROS key sponsor is Perodua. You say leh. Results on the road speaks for itself.
You just ‘keluar gua’? You report, you ‘kena’. This is Malaysia…
Personaly I prefer Saga over Bezza.
I don’t mind at all. it’s a fantastic car for the price. run well, even high speed abt 140kmh stability is great.
what’s more to ask
but still slower than a civic turbo.
Comparison yg bodoh.
Labu labi said : “Ya….terlalu bodoh”
BEN YAP…you are CIBAI….
Stupid…
“If we change everything, the vendors will surely make noise because of the unmet volume.
This quote don’t make sense, for 15 years and yet the Saga (notably the best selling model) have not met the volume for economics of scale??? – seriously better just pack up and leave the automotive business?
You’re right. Is Proton trying to please their vendors or customers? I thought the vendors are the ones who are suppose to meet the demands of the main manufacturers.
42,000 units a year is not even close to reach economies of scale. Judging from their financial performance they probably haven’t broke even. Proton barely makes over 100,000 in total. Dacia (maker of the cheapest car in the UK) makes 250,000 cars a year and are usually slightly in the red (single-digit percent losses). See how terribly demanding this industry is?
Vendors have the same conundrum. Have you guys never came across bulk sellers requiring a “minimum order quantity”? Machines and tools have the same initial costs and maintenance intervals regardless whether they’re making 100 units a day or 10,000.
What 15 years are you talking about. This Saga is from 2019 and no thanks to 2 pandemic hit years plus this year facing chronic shortages, volume could not be met. We’re talking about 50,000-100,000 per year volumes here.
Well, the first generation (saga iswara) lasted from 1985 to 2008… so current model we can expect it to last until 2030.
Talk crap lah. If the model is good, you don’t need 1 year 1 facelift.
You are the one talking crap. Last change was in 2019 so a facelift in 2 years is par for the course. You think like your Honda, keeping models running for 6 years and refusing to change? Civic came 1 year late, City came 1 year late, new HRV sold everywhere except Malaysia still pushing old car, Jazz totally replaced with crap bootless City? Piraahhh
Last change was 2021 with R3 Edition. 2020, Anniversary Edition. 2019, a facelift. So what crap you are talking about?
Do you even know what a special limited edition is about? Stop talking crap
Saga is still the best selling car for proton… If demand is there, continue to tweak and squeeze from the cash cow! It’s common sense
Choose your opinion, which way should it be:
Like : because of small sales, cannot do all-new model
Dislike : do all-new model so sales will increase
If it ain’t broke, don’t fix it, kek. Ayam like me will buy it for a to b.
If want better car go buy something else, not my problem.
Given that the future of the brand is related to Geеly, it makes no sense to invest money to develop a new model. It’s only a matter of time before Geely Emgrand becomes Saga
If too small. Why start it at the first place? If the so-called national car & pride (P1 & P2) not exist. We can enjoy others brand at the fraction of price. No need to to give ‘protection’ price to them.
Rakyat can see what happen to others brand when the P1 price hit the 100k marks. FE need to sell 120k-140k, Mazda 3 at 140k-160k etc2… Why? Because of the abovementioned protection price given by our beloved country so they cannot sell cheaper than the ‘approved’ price.
Easy for them to say work f hard more, study f hard more. But can you guys recall how our parents live in their time with just SRP (now PT3) and SPM and can easily drive C-Segment car.
And lastly, now they (gov) fear of our skill and educated people leaving our beloved country to work at others country, especially S’pore & Australia.
This is just my humble opinion. I kinda fear what will happen to our children. Not all born with a silver spoon and not all are bright & lucky…
ok. so this is the right time for Proton to close shop. rakyat has suffer for great 36 years. enough is enough.
LAME excuse. We, the citizens of Malaysia personally invested way too much for Proton to become a decent builder of up to date cars that were on par with the best. Instead, after billions of ringgit in sales, we are regressing to outdated cars constantly reskinned to keep up. Good enough was never going to be enough.
Korean automotive industries started almost the same time as Malaysia automotive started (both started during the 80s), look at Hyundai and KIA today, and look at Proton today, how come Proton is still a small company, is there any open secret to success that Hyundai and KIA know while proton is not aware of?
It’s a pretty open secret – money. Hyundai was bankrolled by a massive company that had interests in everything from construction to shipbuilding. The investments put into the company before it was spun off in 2000 would make all the money spent on Proton look like spare change.
Also, you should check up on your history – the Hyundai car company was founded in the ’60s.
That is the typical history bending narrative that haters kept repeating but the truth is far removed. Another historical fact they conveniently forget to mention is that back in they 80s & 90s both Hyundai & KIA were in trouble and were forced to merge in order to get Government subsidies that persisted til today.
Very obvious is the group of people managing people, not the matter of resources. Let Proton people go and manage kia or hyundai with the same resources, these people will make the brand bankrupt too!
The answer given is not totally accepted!!! Malaysian Saga buyer is not expecting an own developed total new model! What Proton can do is, just bring in one of the Geely old models and rebadge it! We have X70 and X50 good successful examples!!!
Hello sir. I am looking for the report about Malaysian vehicle sales data for this year, January – April 2022. As of today, you do not update any details yet and I would be grateful if you could do as soon as possible. Thanks.
Why don’t you produce a simple car without any gadgets like alarm, keyless entry. remotes, expensive HiFi equipment, etc. Many middle class people need a simple car to run their errands, send children to school, tuition classes, etc. While Luxury condominiums are built in prime areas served by MRT, LRT and buses, the poor and the middle class are pushed to the suburbs where transport is poor. A simple cheap car will be of great help to these people and also for those in the smaller towns and villages.
Well, you guys At Proton have been through hell even before Geely’s partnership. You know what, take your time guys, sales and after sales are the most important thing here to increase your revenue and Profit….
To be succesful, better planing and patience are priority here ….
Remember , “Rome isn’t build in a day” ….
correction “Rome Wasn’t build in a day.”
True. But can be destroy in a day (Corruption). Why vendor and not the customer? Is it because we (customer) cannot give you commission per screw (part)? Really ethical business here ya.
Are you certain about increasing the revenue and profit? Think twice.
“Sekali jatuh parit, ya silap kita. Tapi kali kedua jatuh parit ya sama (same staff / management), itu ‘bijak’ namanya” – Advice from my dad in order to succes in life.
Yep you maybe right, but i don’t think their management is bad compared to pre Geely’s partnership Proton …
Proton should be more active and serious right now, and i hope they can….
Tbh their cars after several facelift are actually improving their quality, and i hope it goes for reliabilty too …
Revenue and Profit though, of course they need to increase their Revenue for a Research and Development for a homegrown platform and others….
Proton need a time to make a new model based on themself, before Geely’s partnership it’s just…well you know …bad….i hate to explain it further lol…
But i think Proton need to increase their sales numbers here, and don’t forget the after sales too ….too many times i said this lol….but hopefully they will understand why ….
If Proton want more good sale of it’s cars, Proton must produce cars that meet customers demand, not just make facelifts of old model.
judt sack this joker.
So many excuses! Hendak seribu daya, tak hendak seribu dalih.
Tapi Proton jual berpuluh ribu Saga setiap tahun pulak.
Why not? They need to entertain us right? Hehehe..
Still the same junk garbage