Proton is the
Malaysian
national
automobile manufacturer
which was established in 1983 under the direction of the former
Prime Minister
,
Dr. Mahathir Mohamad
.
Based on technology and parts from
Mitsubishi Motors
, production of the first model, the
Proton Saga
began in September 1985 at its first manufacturing plant in
Shah Alam
,
Selangor
. Initially the components of the car were entirely manufactured by Mitsubishi but slowly local parts were being used as technologies were transferred and skills were gained. The 100,000th Proton Saga was produced in January 1989.
Until the end of the 1990s, the car's logo featured the crest from Malaysia's
coat of arms
, featuring a crescent and a fourteen-pointed star. The new Proton logo features a stylized
tiger
head. In 1993, a model called
Proton Wira
was introduced based on the
Mitsubishi Lancer/Colt
. More than 220,000 units were sold between 1996 and 1998.
Proton Perdana
, based on the
Mitsubishi Galant/Eterna
, was first produced in 1995, intended for higher end market. The
Proton Waja
(
Proton Impian
in UK), which launched early 2001, is the first car model designed internally by Proton. By 2002 Proton held a market share of over 60% in Malaysia, which was reduced to barely 30% by 2005 and is expected to reduce further in 2008 when
AFTA
mandates reduce import tariffs to a maximum of 5%.
With the acquisition of
Lotus
technologies in 1996 from ACBN Holdings (a company owned by the owner of
Bugatti
), Proton has gained an additional source of engineering and automotive expertise. This led to the production of
Proton Gen-2
which was code name Wira Replacement Model (WRM) before the launch. The Gen-2 is the first of cars to be manufactured and assembled at the new manufacturing plant in
Tanjung Malim
,
Perak
which is part of
Proton City
development project. The plant was opened in 2004. On
8 June
2005 Proton introduced the second model to be manufactured in Tanjung Malim, the 1,200 cc 5-door supermini, the
Proton Savvy
. Both the Gen-2 and Savvy, were models that
MG Rover
was looking to rebadge when the British firm entered into collaboration talks with Proton. However these joint-venture talks were unsuccessful and
MG Rover
subsequently collapsed.
In 2007, Proton launch its new sedan as replacement version for Wira Sedan but with new name, Persona. The new
Proton Saga
replacement model (codename
Proton BLM
) was launched on 18 January 2008. The new Saga is based on the Savvy platform, but using Campro 1.3L instead of Renault engine. It was announced on
August 8
, 2008 that Proton is developing a new, fuel-efficient hybrid car to beat rising costs and address environmental concerns. Prime Minister
Abdullah Ahmad Badawi
told reporters that he had already test-driven the car and urged the company to continue researching energy-saving techonologies
Proton exports cars to the
United Kingdom
,
South Africa
, and
Australia
and the company is aggressively marketing its cars in several other countries including the
Middle East
. Besides that, Proton cars has also been exporting a small volume of cars to
Singapore
,
Brunei
,
Indonesia
,
Nepal
,
Sri Lanka
,
Pakistan
,
Bangladesh
,
Taiwan
,
Cyprus
and
Mauritius
.
h2
We can only let others flourish if we move away from 'rolla' and 'honda' psyche.
/h2