Is Proton Going In The Correct Direction?

Me being a car enthusiast, many of my friends were asking me this question and quite a number complained that Proton is moving backwards by rebadging the current Lancer into Inspira. 

Most people's perspective on Proton right now is, 'They used to rebadge Mitsubishis in the past, in the year 2000, they made the Waja, our 1st Malaysian car and kept on going with cars like Savvy,Gen2,Saga,Exora,etc but now they've just rebadge the Lancer as the Inspira to replace the decade old Waja. Forward to backward'

So what is my opinion on this? Well, here it is...the long story...

1st of all, we must all ask what made Proton rebadge the current Lancer? Proton's answer was to fund their R&D [Research and Development] for their upcoming cars like the new Persona R [Proton Tuah] and so on. I wasn't surprised by that answer as Proton did overspend in making the Exora until there was an article where,even with Exora selling like hot cakes, it won't be able to cover their R&D fund.

Again, I wasn't surprise with that because the Exora is the most modern Proton in terms of technology. First of all, its the safest Proton and quite safe compared to its competitors like Alza, Innova, etc. Body structure is pretty good based on the crash test. It has a lot of safety features such as hazard lights warning under emergency braking, home light function, smart wipers [lots of features like wiper slows down when in traffic, effective wiping-washing (when washer is activated,wiper wipes 4 times then pauses for 5 seconds for the water to flow down,then wipes again), etc], all doors will unlock in an event of an accident, etc. By the way you do not get these features in its rivals. In fact, most of the features mentioned are normally found in European cars or high end Japanese cars.

Due to whatever I've said in the upper paragraph, they had to somehow generate income other than the Exora sales not just for the initial Exora R&D but also for their upcoming cars. In my opinion, they have concentrated too much on the car key, headlamps and wiper features in the Exora. They should have concentrated less on those and invest more on interior cabin quality and at the same time monitoring their Investment in R&D and approximate future sales while developing the Exora. Due to this, their upcoming cars might reuse the same platform as the Exora which is fine, if it is a new MPV. Let me explain why.

Estima and Odyssey have been long rivals. Estima is more for huge families and comfort. Odyssey is more to younger people and smaller families. Honda's marketing strategy is this, the Odyssey actually uses the same platform as the Accord. Honda says it gives the Odyssey the sedan-like driving style which in other words, despite being a MPV, it is still sporty to drive. Here in Proton, its the other way round, because there are rumors that the new Persona might use the Exora's platform, there's no right or wrong but its definitely tricky. By the way, from Paultan, there were spy shots of a disguised sportier looking Exora and I believe it has the same platform which is good because its a MPV, whatmore a sportier version but anyhow those are just spyshots.

So, after the Exora and Saga, it was heard that Proton will be having a new design language in the future, around 2012. The new design language will feature the new Persona R, Emas and maybe Perdana. We all saw the Proton Tuah during the KL Motorshow 2010. It's a whole new car and from my point of view, I think it looks great, sporty and muscular. Indirectly, their design language is quite promising. Its the same with the Proton Emas, which was a joint venture with Giugaro. It looks cute and sleek. 

 

Has the question been answered? Not exactly, the Proton Tuah and Proton Emas maybe good looking and sporty but bare in mind that those are concepts. It is still early to say despite the good exterior because exterior designing has been much of a problem to Proton (Saga facelift is spot on, Satria Neo is the hottest hatchback in that price range,etc). Even engines aren't a problem, Proton's new CPS engines are stunning whatmore they have the turbo version now. The problem has always been cabin quality and design. Satria Neo looks great on the outside but the interior is terrible as it has too much of cheap plastics and the dashboard design is quite odd. I couldn't understand why Proton modeled Lotus for their interior design in the Neo/Gen2(those 3 vertical air con knobs, speedometer) because Lotus isn't famous for their comfort and interior design. I was even speechless when I saw the interior of the Gen 2 back in 2004, the dashboard buttons are like some puzzle and its very unpractical!

So whether Proton has moved forward by rebadging the lancer or not, can only be justified once we see the production models of their new design language like the Persona R and Emas. However, on the whole, I think Proton has done a great job in the Saga facelift [one of the best facelifts ever], Exora [worth the money and the size, the hybrid is also good] and the Satria Neo [CPS,R3 Lotus Racing and R3 concept]. Good luck to Proton in their upcoming models, make Malaysia proud!