Proton (automobile) - History

History

Proton was established on 7 May 1983 under the direction of the former Prime Minister, Dr. Mahathir Mohamad. It was Malaysia's dominant carmaker until the establishment of Perodua in 1993. 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 used as technologies were transferred and skills were gained. The 100,000th Proton Saga was produced in January 1989.

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), 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 30% by 2005 and reduced further in 2008 when AFTA mandates reduced import tariffs to a maximum of 5%.

With the acquisition of Lotus technologies in 1996 from ACBN Holdings, Proton gained an additional source of engineering and automotive expertise. This led to the production of Proton Gen-2 that was code-name Wira Replacement Model (WRM) before its launch. The Gen•2 is the first of its cars to be manufactured and assembled at the new manufacturing plant in Tanjung Malim, Perak that is part of Proton City development project. The plant was opened in 26 February 2005.

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 launched its new sedan as a replacement for the Wira Sedan but with a new name, Persona, which was previously used as an export name for models outside Malaysia. The new Proton Saga replacement model (codenamed Proton BLM) was launched on 18 January 2008. The new Saga is based on the Savvy platform, but using a CamPro 1.3L instead of a Renault engine. In addition, Proton entered into talks with Mitsubishi Motors once again, and talks were going positive and the resulting collaboration led to the introduction of the Inspira and talks are going positive. the Waja replacement based on the Mitsubishi Lancer as well as the rebadging of Proton Persona and Proton Exora as Mitsubishi vehicles in certain markets. As of 2 August 2008, Proton has produced 3 million cars since 1985, where the 3 millionth car is a second-generation Saga.

In 2012, Proton will be launching its first global car, Proton Prevé (code name known as Proton P3-21A) on April 16.