history of proton

Who here remembers Proton Eon Racing Team (PERT) that was formed in the late 1980s? It may not be familiar to some of you but they were the ones that laid the foundation for Proton R3 - which stands for Race, Rally and Research. The name’s a clue to its history. Starting out with circuit racing, the PERT team made headways into rally before reaching their pinnacle sometime in 2002 - winning the FIA Production Car World Rally Championship title, thanks to “Flying Sikh” Karamjit Singh and co-drive

Sanjay

Jul 13, 2020

Even as we enter into 2021, it seems that the hype of the Proton X50 has not yet died down with Proton announcing 3,345 units of the B-segment SUV sold in February. With that figure, the Proton X50 achieved the highest monthly sales for any SUV in Malaysian history. Overall, Proton’s February sales were very much positive with 11,873 units sold in that month, nearly doubling that of January’s sales (5,964 units). Also read: Proton’s market share at 7-year high - 27.1 %, 8,141 units X50 delivered

CY Foong

Mar 8, 2021

The ubiquitous number plate. These little black and white boxes on every road-going vehicle may seem like a boring topic to explore but look beyond the regulative reasons behind them and they actually have a pretty fascinating history. What purpose does it serve? Simple, really. It's a result of transportation being more accessible, and the government needs a way to regulate and control the vehicles pootling around. They're useful because in the event of an accident or a crime, authorities could

Sanjay

Sep 13, 2020

Before you cry out to Proton for yet another sad state of historic concepts and rally legends, let me just say that the Proton Putra WRC is under capable hands. So, please put down your keyboard gently and stop preparing a rant to Geely in the comments section. Let me tell you a tale of the wild Malaysian rally car that could’ve fought with the likes of Colin McRae and Tommi Makinen in their Imprezas and Lancer Evos. We’ve written an article featuring Proton’s PERT cars a while back and just to

CY Foong

Aug 8, 2020

Just last week, we saw the 2020 Proton Saga Anniversary Edition made to celebrate the first Saga launched way back in 1985. Some liked it, but there also were critics that poked fun at Proton - thinking that the Saga is merely a cheap cash grab. Whether or not you liked it is another question, but it’s a fact that Proton had even hotter cars in their 37-year history, namely the Proton Putra, Satria GTI and Wira 1.8 Exi LE. Put side-by-side, each of them makes the Saga Anniversary edition look fa

Sanjay

Jul 19, 2020

Malaysia is home to the Sepang international Circuit, Pasir Gudang circuit, and Dato’ Sagor circuit. We even used to have a racing circuit in Batu Tiga that was once used to film the Jackie Chan film, “Thunderbolt”. We love motorsports and have gone to great lengths to make it more accessible. While track racing may be a little more popular, one motorsport that we absolutely love is rallying. We may not have winter stages and tall pine trees, but that hasn’t stopped us from enjoying the sport. T

Arif

Nov 2, 2020

Due to low demand, Proton has decided to suspend bookings for the Standard variant of the Proton X50. Proton has seen over 40,000 bookings for the X50 since its launch in October 2020, but bookings for the standard variant only account for 5%. The Edge reports that while Proton had expected the X50 to garner a lot of interest, the demand has been overwhelming, especially for the Flagship variant. Proton will focus on the larger population of bookings, which is for the non-Standard variants. Book

Arif

Apr 16, 2021

When the Mercedes-Benz W201 made its debut in December 1982, its looks were far from unique. However, the entry-level model that slotted below the E-Class, S-Class, and SL-Class in Mercedes-Benz’s line-up has become a truly sought-after model and a symbol for the German brand’s future endeavour. The timeless shape and design were penned by Bruno Sacco. Its sharp lines were reminiscent of its siblings, giving it a very distinct, Teutonic Mercedes-Benz look. This W201 was also known as the Baby Be

CY Foong

Sep 12, 2020

Proton had auctioned off some of its concept prototypes and rally cars in an unprecedented move on its automotive history. Thankfully, some of them have been pulled out from the auction by Proton. Some of these prototypes and university creations probably deserved the scrap but there were some which should be preserved. Apart from the PERTs and the Petronas E01-powered cars, the one that stood out in the list was a pair of Satria Cabriolets. While the United Kingdom was the prime export market f

CY Foong

Jul 21, 2020

Back in 1993, the most preferred body-type for a car was a saloon. The Proton Persona debuted, and back then, we knew it as the Proton Wira. The Wira was known as the Persona in UK. Alongside the Wira, the Satria was called the Persona Compact, and the Putra was the Persona Coupe. For 2 generations, the Persona was a C-segment saloon. Things were revamped in 2016, and the Persona name was redesignated to an Iriz-based B-segment sedan. A lot has changed over 27 years, but the Persona remains an a

Arif

Oct 31, 2020

Fifty years is more than enough time for a carmaker to introduce a model, facelift it a couple of times, kill it and then bring it back as a crossover or whatever's trendy. Not many can say they 'remained true to the original', but the Toyota Hilux certainly can. Cars evolve all the time (see above). It's quite a feat if a carmaker manages to stay true to its original recipe yet continue to improve, and that's pretty much what the Hailak has achieved in 52 years. Before Toyota Hilux Interestingl

Sanjay

Aug 29, 2020

The Proton Saga has now made its way to Kenya as Proton has officially shipped its first batch of cars to the country. The Sagas were shipped to Kenya as completely knocked down (CKD) kits and will be locally assembled Nairobi for the country’s market. Kenya is just yet another country added to Proton’s list of export destinations this year. Earlier this year, Proton also launched the Proton X70 in Pakistan. The 30 Proton Saga kits will be assembled by Simba Corporation (Simba), a diversified co

Jerrica

Aug 24, 2020

Remember Proton's electric vehicle (EV) project? Today, we found out that Proton was putting up models such as the Proton Saga EV, Proton Iriz EV, and even the Proton EMAS concept car up for auction. This following last week's auction of historic concepts and prototypes. UPDATE: The Proton EMAS concept car has been withdrawn from the auction. Thumbs up to Proton! It's impossible for a manufacturer to keep every protoype/concept car, but the EMAS deserves a spot in the museum. Today's auction was

CY Foong

Jul 22, 2020

This article was contributed by the former editor of Malaysian Evo magazine, Daniel Wong, who currently resides in Australia. You can find more of his off-beat articles on the motoring world at The Motor Muse. Dropping the word ‘Proton’ into any Malaysian car enthusiast discussion would be like dropping a fistful of lithium down the toilet. You will get one spectacular bang with a lot of flying filth, which nobody will want to clean after. “Proton was good…”, “Proton was bad…”, one can argue til

Daniel

Jun 14, 2020

Earlier this week, Proton received a lot of flak for auctioning off its prototypes, concept cars including the ItalDesign Giugiaro’s Emas concept, and even Karamjit Singh’s former PERT rally car. Critics say that Proton’s new Chinese owners from Geely were being disrespectful of Proton’s heritage, and that many of these cars deserve a spot in a museum. But I digress. Rewind for a moment the timelines. These cars have been locked away and left to rot by its Malaysian owners long before Geely came

Hans

Jul 26, 2020

** This article is the personal experience of a 1996 Proton Wira 1.6 XLi owner and does not necessarily reflect the views of WapCar. Eugene Teoh About the Proton Wira The Proton Wira is Malaysia’s second national car after the Proton Saga, after it was unveiled to the public in 1985. The Proton Wira, its name translated into the word “Hero” in Malay. The Proton Wira produced from 1993 to 2009. It was basically a rebadged Mitsubishi Lancer from the ‘90s and shared the same platform as the Lancer

Owner Review

Sep 9, 2020

** This article is the personal experience of a 2018 Proton Saga 1.3L Premium CVT owner and does not necessarily reflect the views of WapCar. Facebook: Xavier Pang First, a huge thanks to WapCar for accepting my request to join the owner group and allow me to share my story, as part of a growing movement on real cars, real story sharing. I have always wanted to do a sharing like this, where real owners share real experiences on their rides. As I myself very much enjoy such sharing, it is right o

Owner Review

Aug 11, 2020

First introduced in 1989 with the first generation Lexus LS 400, this year marks the 30th anniversary of the luxury car brand that set new standards for quality and customer service. Lexus’ story began in August 1983 at Toyota’s headquarters in Aichi, when the then Chairman of Toyota Motor Eiji Toyoda convened for top-secret meeting and posted the question, “Can we create a luxury car to challenge the very best?” The abbreviated version of Lexus’ history often credits Eiji, who is the granduncle

Hans

Sep 10, 2019

As July 9 looms upon us, we take this opportunity to celebrate an iconic nameplate in Malaysian automotive history. For it was on July 9 1985 that the Proton Saga started rolling off the production lines. An impressive feat, seeing that Perusahaan Otomobil Nasional (Proton) had just been established 2 years prior. And now, here we are, the Saga nameplate still with us, still going strong, still staying true to its humble origins and purpose and ever popular with Malaysian consumers. In fact, the

Jason

Jul 7, 2020

Proton has announced that its sales continued its positive growth for the fifth month in a row with 11,392 units sold for the month of October. The number comprises of both domestic and export sales. The highly anticipated Proton X50 itself shows no sign of slowing down with 27,400 bookings made and 447 units delivered as of the end of October. Talk about hotcakes. Total sales for 2020 so far now stand at 84,999 units which gives Proton an estimated 21.3% market share. However, not all is great

CY Foong

Nov 2, 2020

Recently, we ran a couple of stories on Proton auctioning off some of their older cars - including the Proton Wira PERT. A few articles down the line and with netizens’ support, a number of sought-after models were withdrawn from auction. That said, the Wira PERT was still sold - thankfully with a happy end. Mfa Bob, the new owner of the rallying Wira, recently shared on Facebook that he would be restoring the car to its former glory. PERT stands for Petronas Eon Racing Team and was founded in t

Sanjay

Jul 27, 2020

Proton telah melelong beberapa kereta prototaip konsep dan rally dalam satu langkah yang mengejutkan sepanjang sejarah kewujudannya. Beberapa kereta terselamat daripada lelongan tersebut kerana ditarik balik oleh Proton. Beberapa buah prototaip dan rekaan kreatif ini mungkin lebih bagus dibuang saja. Tapi, ada beberapa yang rasanya patut disimpan kerana ia cukup unik. Selain daripada PERTs dan kereta Petronas ‘E01-powered’, satu kereta yang betul-betul menonjol adalah sepasang Satria Cabriolet.

Mersita

Jul 21, 2020

Proton Saga Despite the movement control order’s partial lift, Proton managed to sell 5,676 cars in the month of May 2020. This represents 23.3 percent market share of the month and an improvement of 73.2 percent compared to March and April. The number of cars Proton sold in May might be a huge difference (46.5 percent to be exact) compared to the number of cars sold in 2019 of the same month, Proton is remaining positive. Proton X70 The company believes this is marks the upward sales trend of t

Jerrica

Jun 4, 2020

In 1994, Proton successfully asserted its dominance as the best-selling carmaker in Malaysia thanks to the immediate success of the fairly new Proton Wira. However, for those who wished the Wira could have a bit more oomph as it was based on the Mitsubishi Lancer, Edaran Otomobil Nasional (EON) had just the solution. At its headquarters in Shah Alam 27 years ago, EON debuted the Proton Sembilu to the media and it was a truly exquisite-looking Wira. EON enhanced the style by adding a sporty front

CY Foong

Jan 16, 2021

When Proton first launched the X70 back in late 2018, consumers were sceptical of the car’s Chinese roots – will it be problematic, they asked. Well, that comes as no surprise, considering the history of Chinese cars sold here in the past. With the X70, Proton and Geely hope to change the perception once and for all. Despite all of their efforts, the X70 is not perfect and has some (minor) shortcomings. Is the Proton X70's fuel consumption poor? We are aware that a lot of owners have lamented ab

Eric

Jan 24, 2020

Proton is an abbreviation or Perusahaan Otomobil Nasional. It’s a national car. That was the intention and it is something we should be proud of. Germany has Volkswagen, Japan has Toyota, and Korea has Hyundai. Other famous brands have been left out in favour of those that cater to the masses with “people’s cars”. Proton is 35 years old (We’ll take the Saga launch as its birthday). Toyota and Volkswagen are 83 years old while Hyundai is 53 years old. Proton is young in comparison to these compan

Arif

Aug 2, 2020

Last month, Perodua was happy to announce that they have hit an all-time new sales record in their 27-year history with 25,035 cars sold in September. But it seems that momentum has carried on to October as the company registered 26,852 cars sold, setting yet another new sales record. Other than that, Perodua President and Chief Executive Officer, Dato’ Zainal Abidin Ahmad further added that in October alone Perodua had purchased RM 600 million worth of parts from local suppliers for the product

Jerrica

Nov 3, 2020

A very rare English Proton Satria Neo rally car is for sale on Motorsports Auction for 85,000 GBP. Unlike the Satria Neo S2000 rally car, this Satria Neo runs a British-made engine – the 2,500 Millington Diamond Engine. Specifically, the 2,500 cc Millington Diamond series 2+. The history of the Millington Engines dates all the way back to 1971 with Roy Millington working on diesel engines of the family farm. The first diamond engines are based on the 4-cylinder Cosworth YB engine. Roy Millington

Arif

Jun 23, 2020

Had it been that we had no local automobile manufacturer, the Honda City / Honda Jazz would probably the most abundant vehicle on our Malaysian roads. The Honda City, as its name suggests, is a city car. While we may have only seen the petrol and hybrid versions of the city here, it is actually available in a diesel variant and even a manual transmission elsewhere. With the arrival of the new 2020 Honda City in Malaysia, it seems like a good time to look back at a brief history of the Honda City

Arif

Oct 13, 2020

Proton was one of the few carmakers to emerge from the 80s (coincidentally, Geely was also part of that small batch). The first car to bear the Proton name was the Proton Saga. Based on the Mitsubishi Lancer Fiore, the Saga was a big deal for Malaysia when it first came to fruition in 1985. Thirty five years later, the Saga remains highly relevant. The compact saloon is affordable and perfect for young families. It is a worthy successor to the “Saga” name. Having evolved over 35 years, the Saga

Arif

Oct 26, 2020