With the announcement that the Proton S70 sedan has entered production and its order books have opened, many may be aware that the C-segment sedan is based on an existing Geely model.
What may not (yet) be common knowledge is that the S70 is based on the Emgrand, a Geely BMA platform-based B-segment model sold in the Philippines rival to the likes of the Toyota Vios and the Honda City. The S70 therefore, is not a model based on the Geely Preface or Xing Rui, despite earlier confusion that presumed the S70 is to be based on that car.
That confusion arose from the Emgrand-based Proton that was previously thought to be named S50. A theoretical, larger Proton sedan was visually rendered by Theophilus Chin, and so that larger car, then thought to be named ‘S70’, was imagined to be based on the Geely Preface/Xing Rui that is on Geely’s Compact Modular Architecture (CMA) platform.
Now that the S70 nameplate has in fact been confirmed ahead of its unveiling, a sedan larger than the S70 would mean stepping up to a larger number, and so the odd-multiple-of-10 convention so far used by Proton means the next step in the progression would be ‘S90’. That would present a naming issue as an S90 already exists courtesy of Volvo, and even if Proton broke with convention, so does an S80, for that matter.
The positioning of the S70 as a C-segment car means that any Preface/Xing Rui-based Proton model would be a D-segment model, however that may be academic as the D-segment category has been shrinking amid the market’s growing appetite for SUVs, and that Perdana replacement is therefore unlikely to materialise.
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Many will hapgred from their current city n vios.
Why not naming it the new Inspira?
Just call it Perdana. Why bother with using an alphabet + number system across the board? The Iriz is still the Iriz, the Persona is still the Persona. In the same vein, let this be the Perdana.
Perdana was d-segment lol. Using tat name is a huge downgrade.
By calling S70 and categorising it as a C-segment car, Proton hopes to charge more money for it. The greed is going to be its own undoing I tell you. Any idiot can tell that the S70 cannot compete with the ‘god car ‘ Civic, and just because it’s a little cheaper, it’s not going to sell, I tell you. Gonna be like the hangat-hangat tahi ayam X90 in terms of grabbing market share – just how many X90s have you actually seen on the road?
I had been reading all these “it is not going to sell”, “how many of this actually seen on the road” remarks before and after the launching of X50. Guess what, now X50 can be seen almost everywhere on the road.
Let’s see if you will eat your own words this time for S70.
I agree with you, not many X90 on the roads, maybe unless the rear end should be major facelifted.
Should just stick with the Preve name or maybe name it Evolvé (pronouns as Ee-vol-vay).
MPI engine uses timing belt, good luck Proton S70. Premium car price but primitive technology.
people been saying this since before x50 launch but today x50 is everywhere lol
Was looking forward to the S50 that rival the Vios and City… Now the S70 to rival Altis and Civic??? With everybody know it is Geely Emgrand that rival Vios and City… I better save my money and keep my old car…
What Proton need is an EV based on the Geely’s SEA platform
Haha so basically taking a cheap b-segment and upsell as c-segment
Hopefully Proton can really look into spare part supply and not just launching new model!