Spied: Proton X70 in Thailand, to get newer 1.5T engine than Malaysia's

Proton's plans of re-entering Thailand may come into fruition sooner than we think - a little over a month since the Proton X50 was first spotted there, now the Proton X70 has also made its way to the Land of Smiles. 

Said to be found driving around in Bangkok, the X70 seen here is either the Premium or the Premium X variant as judged by the 19-inch dual-tone wheels this car wears.

Also read: Spied: Proton X50 seen in Thailand - exports before fulfilling Malaysian backlogs?

Proton's plans to re-enter the Thai market (they left the market in 2015) have been afoot for sometime. In a press release published last August, Proton's Deputy Chief Executive Officer, Dato Radzaif Mohamed mentioned Thailand as one of the countries the carmaker aims to have brand presence in.

Also read: Did Proton just hint that they are making a return to Thailand?

On a more product-level, recall that the Geely Key User Interface (GKUI) infotainment system employed in Proton cars now understands Thai.

The X70 stands to face rather stiff competition there, with rivals such as the Honda CR-V, the best-selling MG HS, and the upcoming contender, the brutish Haval H6.

Also read: China's No. 1 SUV, 2021 Haval H6 to launch in Thailand, Malaysian export mulled

Proton X70 specs

Although nothing official has been said thus far, the Thai-spec car will most likely be powered by a 1.5-litre, turbocharged three-cylinder mill pushing 177 PS and 255 Nm, paired to a 7-speed wet-type dual-clutch automatic transmission (DCT). Plucked from the X50 Flagship, this arrangement is also shared by the Pakistani- and Bangladeshi-spec models.

Thailand's CO2 tax points towards the car receiving this smaller engine, instead of the larger mill we get here.

For context, our X70 here runs on a 1.8-litre, turbocharged four-cylinder mill (184 PS / 300 Nm) that's also paired to a 7-speed wet-type DCT.

It'll be a while till we know the X70's Thai prices, but just to recap here's the pricelist for the X70 in Malaysia:

All that's left is to see how Proton's foray into Thailand progresses. Regardless what happens - you'll hear about it here first.