An epic Saga - the Proton Story

I do YouTube community polls from time to time where you get to choose the subject of an upcoming video, and in a recent poll the Aston Martin Lagonda won with 30% of the vote, but a video on Proton Cars got 29% so it would be a crying shame if I didn’t also do that one, especially as you seemed to like the video on Daewoo. I remember Proton making a splash in the UK in the late 80s with the cheap and cheerful Saga, but then it seemed to disappear. Well, there’s a lot more to Proton than just that! They bought Lotus, and surprisingly were still selling cars in the UK in 2016, although no one probably realised it and certainly no one was buying the cars. Why did Proton try exporting around the world for decades while selling almost no cars, and what are they doing now?

Sources:

#bigcar

[BigCar]

Erratum: The Jumbuck was based on the Wira platform, not the Waja.

[ENLSN]

I'll never forget the moment my brother was waiting for the driving instructor to show up for the first lesson. He said " i don't care what car it is, as long as it's not a Proton". I fell about laughing when the car pulled up outside. 😂

[iangrice]

When Proton arrived in the UK, they were a breath of fresh air, selling something different, but they soon became just another box on wheels.

[fauzanriez]

Hello from Malaysia!

Allow me to correct several points in the video.
1. Proton stands for Perusahaan Otomobil Nasional (National Car Industry ).
2. It was true Mitsubishi avoided head on competition in Malaysia market but it did still sold commercial vehicles (L200, L100 and Pajero/Shogun) and other body style sedan like Galant and the sporty Cordia.
3. Waja has several meanings in the Malay language. For the car it means heart of bravery. Waja only shares the platform (in fact only engine and drive train) with Mitsubishi Carisma but the rest were all designed from ground up. No body panels are the same, even wheelbase is different.
4. Proton did very well in the UK during its first launched of Saga (known as Proton, Proton MPI and Proton MPI Triple valve). The one reason was because of the lowly selling price. Proton cars were about the same price to pay for a Skoda, Lada, Yugo, Seat and FSO in the late 80s but pretty much more modern. It was a generation behind the equivalent Mitsubishi Lancer, no issues there.
Problems came when Proton introduced the Persona and Satria. Proton was thinking those cars were better looking and technically modern so decided to sell those models closer to Ford Escort and Vauxhall Astra segment.

Proton was also slow in terms of catching up with market trend in UK. Unique-fit stereo head unit, engine immobiliser, visible VIN and diesel engines. Also late to introduce curtain airbags, stability control and start-stop technology. Also lacking in euro ncap scores. Good, bur not great.

The lack of brand image and poor resale value ushered prospect buyers away.

5. Proton Perdana did very well in Malaysia, especially the facelifted V6 variant with some suspension tuning by Lotus.
Perdana means Prime.
The second generation though had a totally new body shell even though using an older Honda Accord mechanicals.

6. Proton Jumbuck (Proton Arena in Malaysia) was based on modified Proton Wira/Persona platform, not Waja.

7. The second generation Proton Saga was totally new inside out, based on stretched Proton Savvy platform. Its not just an update of the first Saga.
Saga is one of best selling cars in Malaysia at any given in the past 35 years, similar to Britain's love for the Ford Fiesta. Except that, hatchbacks were not very popular here until 10 years ago.

8. The first facelifted Exora was called Exora Bold. It received a new turbocharged Campro engine (different displacement and Variable Valve Timing) and a new automatic transmission (CVT instead of 4 speed conventional torque converter type). But along the line few updates came and that's when the term Minor Change was used. It didnt qualify as a facelift.

9. A fellow youtuber from UK (Stephanie Holloway from IDRIVEACLASSIC channel) who loves classic cars managed to find a pristine Proton Iswara (MPI Triple Valve in UK) that was kept in a barn for 10 years.
The car won NEC UK classic car category competition recently.

10. A company in the UK known as Mellors Elliot Motorsport was involved in preparing the Satria S2000 some 10-15 years ago.

So much they like Proton cars in terms of chassis rigidity and natural handling, MEM got itself several Proton Iriz direct from Malaysia and converted those to compete in British Rally Championship and 5 Nations British Rallycross as well.
It won several times including Goodwood Rally Stage (and also Grizedale) beating other cars from Ford, VW, Peugoet and Citroen.

I am a big fan of yours.

[aaronbryan]

Here in Malaysia there are basically 2 camps, you are either still blindly in love with Proton and Perodua, or you absolutely despise them for being cockblockers towards foreign car manufacturers due to the ridiculous high import taxes being imposed on foreign brands to protect these 2 local brands and yet these 2 local brands are still very complacent at building their cars to higher quality standards and introducing newer powertrain technologies that are actually practical and work as advertised, the further advancement of Malaysia's car industry has pretty much stagnated because of these 2 brands own self-satisfaction and their stronghold over the market share of total car sales making it not cost effective for foreign car manufacturers to make any serious investments here.

[vengadeshkannavathy]

What a coincidence! This 31st August is Malaysia's independence day. Thanks bro.

Regards, a Fellow Malaysian.

[joshthemediocre]

The Proton Saga has been made into a Hot Wheels car that will be hitting stores real soon, this is perfect timing.

[ca]

I worked for Proton in South Africa in 2010 for 6 months...I made next to no money, but I did get to read quite a few books while sitting in a dead dealership for 8 hours a day...
I sold more "foreign" cars than actual Protons, if I remember correctly I only managed to sell 4 brand new Protons...some very funny stories of guys using the mountains of unsold cars kept at one of the main dealerships for under the table businesses...one guy was running a side company offering cheap hire cars to foreign tourists, he`s simply disconnect the speedo cable, drive the car out of the storage yard and return the car after it was given back, nobody was doing any form of stock checks at the time so he got away with it for well over a year...

[KeyboardsGray]

Really enjoyed this video, can’t believe I forgot they existed beyond the 1990s in the UK!
If they go down the EV route, they’ll be missing a trick if they don’t name their car the Proton Electron…

[Locomattive]

Protons are still quite common here in Norfolk. They had a good network of dealers In rural and places like Cromer. They sponsored Norwich City and made a huge deal about the Lotus ownership. I believe they offered a discount to Lotus employees.

I think for your sales figures, most Protons can be found in Norfolk.

[faisalharoonuppal]

I am Pakistani, staying in 🇲🇾 Malaysia near two decades. I like to say, Proton is not only a brand name, it's a "Romance". (Same with Petronas)
Happy Independence Day 🇲🇾🎉🇲🇾

[TomasBelloXD]

My family owned a 1995 Proton Persona 1.5 GLI (The Wira was called Persona in Chile) for 25 years.
It was such an extremely good car for a cheap prize, it even looked better than the Lancer and the cheapest and popular Nissan Sentra V16, cause it had the Mitsubishi Colt frontal lights, and the Mitsubishi Galant brake lights.
It didn't feel miserable cheap with a generic gray plastic, it was blue, the dashboard and everything had this soft rubber/fake leather texture everywhere that feel quite decent, and it was compatible with a lot of Mitsubishi and Hyundai aftermarket car parts.
It was cheap, good looking and reliable! We did a lot of travels through Chile and Argentina and never let us down.
We ended up selling with 250.000+ km.
Greetings from Chile!

[yissibiiyte]

Proton arrived in my country (South Africa) this year and they seem like really good modern cars. They fit right in with all the more established brands

[q.e.d.]

I had an early 80s Saga in the late 90s, here in NZ. Everybody took the piss and mocked me for it, but it never missed a beat and after 2 years I did a swap with a guy for a 1986 Suzuki SJ413, ragtop, with a stuffed motor. Many hours and about $1000 parts, materials and machining, later I had the best little off-roader, freshly painted, new vinyl screens and refurbished top. Value, ~$4500-5000.

The guy who got the Proton was still happy with it a couple of years later. He’d been asking $1500 for the little jeep but nobody had bitten and he was desperate for some wheels. $1500 was $50 more than I paid for the Saga and, as I had time on my hands and access to a motor mechanic’s workshop, I decided to rebuild the engine myself. That was 24 years ago. It’s a farm hack with a neighbour, now and still not burning oil. Proud of that because I’m not a mechanic, and I did the whole thing from Haynes.

[iEnofadov]

Proton sold cars in Australia from 1995 to 2017 and was Protons second largest export market with 35, 000 sales, behind the UK. We also received a few Protons that were never sold in the UK, like the Preve sedan, Suprima S hatch and the Exora MPV. The Jumbuck ute was one of their best selling vehicles in Australia.

There was talk of re-launching Proton in Australia in 2020/2021, but then of course the world got sick!

[rickybryan]

The Jumbuck Ute was quite popular in Australia. It’s safety was appalling but the cost was pretty irresistible.

[BOABModels]

I remember when Proton owned Lotus and sponsored Lotus' local football club, Norwich city. The Proton badge would be on the home kit whilst Lotus would grace the away shirt.
I think some other teams have done this - I'm sure Subaru and Isuzu shared Coventry City's shirts at one point.

[TL]

Proton was also involved in motogp, starting in 2002 with the KR3 (essentially a rebranded Modenas KR3) and ending in 2005 with the KR5, ran under the team roberts banner

[ebridgewater]

Just checked Autotrader. There are currently only 14x Protons for sale on there in the UK (7x Savvy, 2x GEN-2 and 2x 'Proton', obviously none are new), with only one being an automatic. The oldest is from 1991, newest from 2013.

[thatcheapguy]

interesting story indeed. I'm not surprised us viewers polled Proton so high, most of us are here in the UK and we love an underdog don't we 🙂