There aren’t many car models that can proudly claim that they have been on sale for more than 30 years. The Toyota Corolla and the Honda Civic are two such examples, as well as the Proton Saga. Can you believe it? The Saga is now 37 years old!

37 is not a small number for a car model, even for Proton. There are models that Proton has discontinued throughout the past 37 years, the Proton Wira is one, the Proton Iswara, and how could we forget the local ‘warm’ hatch the Proton Satria.

The point is there have been numerous cars from Proton that came and went, but the Proton Saga remained a steadfast model that is still continuing its run as one of Malaysia’s favourite sedans.

Of course, having ‘lived’ 37 years, there are bound to be a few fun facts that are worth taking note of. Here are eight facts about the Saga that you probably didn’t know.

Also read: Priced from RM 34k, 2022 Proton Saga MC2 facelift launched with keyless entry and more to fight Bezza

#1

The first Proton Saga was rolled out of the factory on 9-July-1985, the manufacturer had wanted to coincide the debut of the car with then Prime Minister Tun Dr Mahathir Mohamed’s birthday.

Although Proton celebrated the Saga’s birthday on 9-July, this was actually just the date the car made its debut. The Saga only officially went on sale on 1-September-1985 and the first buyer is none other than Tun M, aka the founder of Proton.

Also read: Tun M checks out some restored Proton Sagas; Confirms Perodua Ativa is his own car

#2

The Saga name was selected from a contest. The “Name the National Car Contest” received 102,823 entries.

While the name Saga was taken from the hard red seed of the Saga tree, it was also an acronym for Safety, Achievement, Greatness, and Ability.

#3

36 prototypes were developed before the first Proton Saga was approved by both Proton and Mitsubishi Motors Corporation (MMC) in 1984.

#4

1.95 million units of the Proton Saga were sold since 1985, making it the best-selling car in Malaysian automotive history.

#5

The Proton Saga has been exported to a total of 28 countries worldwide. Bangladesh was the first export market in 1986 and this was followed by the United Kingdom in 1989.

Also read: Immaculate 1993 Proton Saga found in British garage. Only clocked 16k km!

#6

The Proton Saga is the company’s most popular export model with over 59,000 units sold.

#7

The Proton Saga has bagged over 22 awards from various media channels since 1988. It was also involved in motorsports soon after it was launched.

The car’s most recent success was finishing second in the 2019 Sepang 1,000 km race.

#8

A red Proton Saga was the first car to be driven over the Penang Bridge. The driver of the car was, of course, Tun M.

37 is just a milestone for the Proton Saga, Proton is showing no signs of discontinuing the namesake so the model will probably even celebrate its 47th anniversary one day. It will be interesting to see if there will be an EV Saga in the future as well!

Also read: 1989 Proton Saga Black Knight takes centre stage at London’s Royal Automobile Club