One of the oldest Automotive blogs in Malaysia. Since 2006 and going strong.
Motoring-Malaysia.blogspot.my is an award winning Malaysian motoring / automotive / car news & reviews website or auto blog. It is where we rant and rave about cars, trucks, buses, motoring, motor vehicles and any interesting automotive industry related stuff. Unswayed in our point of view and darn proud of it! It's not about the numbers...it's about passion.
At the presentation of Malaysia cultural handicraft to national athletes for them to present to the Asian Games Museum in Hangzou, China during the upcoming 19th Asian Games, the CEO of Proton, Dr Li Chunrong, had announced that the company will be launching a new sedan within the next couple of months as well as announcing that their Electric Vehicle will also be launched soon after that. Fingers crossed it happens as scheduled!
The news is indeed quite a juicy bit for those who want a Proton but want a sedan rather than a SUV. As for the EV, that folks, is the upcoming smart #1, which should be launched a few weeks after that and that has been blogged about here.
As the name suggests, the 2021Proton Persona Black Edition is presented in black with gold accents subtly accentuating the bumpers and alloy wheels. Inside, it comes with black leatherette seats, door trims and floor console with black treatment for the headlining,
PROTON conducted another over the internet launch today where the Malaysian car manufacturer launched four Special Edition models at one go. The limited production models have been given the moniker Black Edition for the Persona and Exora models and the R3 Limited Edition for the Iriz and Saga. These new limited run variants were designed to broaden the appeal of each model while offering more choice to customers. Note the slightly more mature and discreet 'Black Edition' moniker for the more family oriented Persona and Exora and the return of the R3 branding for the more youthful Iriz and Saga (starter boy racer or ricer) models.
PROTON will be introducing its Special Edition models – the Iriz, Saga, Persona, and Exora. which is set to launch virtually on 18 February 2021 at 11am. These limited run variants will be enhanced with unique design elements for both the interior and exterior of these cars, the Special Edition models is here to meet customers’ needs and suits the most discerning lifestyle. In other not so marketing savvy words, the cars will have additional trim and shiny bits that will make them slightly different from the normal production models.
Malaysians will also be able to place bookings for the Special Edition models on the same date and time. These Special Edition models provide the same level of comfort, safety and handling that are offered in their standard models, except they have now been enhanced in the aesthetics department. Yes. They will look slightly tweaked with some bits here and there.
After selling slightly over 102,000 cars in 2019, PROTON has started 2020 strongly with the Malaysian based company recording a total of 8,506 new registrations for the month of January 2020. This figure is a 20.2% increase over the same period last year. This also marks PROTON’s most successful January sales in 4 years. The company is on a roll and should be on its way to another stong year ahead with the launch of the locally assembled X70 SUV and maybe the smaller X50 SUV by the end of this year.
PROTON and Bank Rakyat are offering special financial packages for fresh graduates and also to government employees on certain Proton car model. This special package will be valid until 31 December 2019 and amazingly provides up to 100% financing for fresh graduates and government employees. In other words, if you qualify, you don't even pay a single Malaysia sen when you drive off with the car. Well, then you have to start with the monthly installments, but that's another thing.
The second edition of the PROTON 1 Tank Adventure kicked off its opening preliminary round recently. It took place over the Malaysia Day weekend where a total of 60 participants in 30 cars, comprising of the 2019 Proton Iriz, Persona and Saga set off on another epic motoring adventure that covered a total driving distance of 650km that took them from PROTON’s Centre Of Excellence (COE) to Johor Bahru and back again.
The facts - Solid Sales Performance by Proton. The company sold 7,615 units June 2019. 18.1% Total Industry Volume market share from a market that had SHRUNK by 30.8% to 42,090 units (for June). But this drop is common after the Hari Raya Aidilfitri festive holidays. But still impressive.
Videos - 2019 Hyundai Santa Fe preview - 2019 Proton Iriz Facelift Test Drive - 2019 Proton Persona Facelift Test Drive- 2019 Proton Exora Launch, Prices & Details
Selamat Hari Raya AidilFitri...Maaf Zahir & Batin. No updates here but we have not been quiet during this month of Ramadhan. We did quite a few videos over on YouTube folks so while we have been taking a break from writing, we have not been stopping doing videos, which is why I do suggest you people subscribe to the Motoring Malaysia channel over on YouTube.
I have to say that YouTube is the future as more and more people like moving pictures. It isn't as easy to produce compared to writing but both have their challenges. Personally, writing is nice as it allows your poetic side to use words to convey a picture within one's mind. As for video, it is easier to record, but on a personal note, I prefer to make our videos have better production values rather than just doing one long take and talking about a certain vehicle.
Note that I do like editing my videos so that it becomes somewhat like a mini documentary with a lot of B-Roll showing the vehicles rather than just a hand doing a walkaround.
Anyway, here are some of the videos which I have not updated here as yet. There is one on the facelifted Proton Iriz & Persona and on the newly available for sale here in Malaysia, 2019 Hyundai Santa Fe SUV. Not forgetting we have the launch video of the slightly revised 2019 Proton Exora 1.6 Turbo
We should be active again after hibernating during this fasting month!!! Stay tuned for more videos!
Proton Cars have finally launched both the 2019 Proton Iriz and the 2019 Proton Persona yesterday. Both facelifted models feature revised styling, improvements to over 300 parts in each model as well as having the Geely-based GKUI infotainment system (in both the Premium 1.6 CVT variants of the cars) which makes it a first for B-segment cars with intelligent features to be sold in Malaysia. But the best thing is that Proton has slashed the official prices for the cars, they now offer more value for less.
The 2019 Proton Iriz and Proton Persona facelifted models have been revealed to the general public at this year's Malaysia Autoshow yesterday. The Prime Minister of Malaysia, Tun Dr. Mahathir Mohamad had the honour of doing so during the official opening of the Autoshow. The two cars will be on display throughout the Autoshow which will continue till 14 April (this sunday).
The Malaysia Autoshow 2019, organized by Malaysia Automotive, Robotics and IoT Institute (MARii) was officially launched yesterday. Held at MAEPS, Serdang, it will be ongoing from now to the 14th April. The Autoshow was officially launched by the Prime Minister, Tun. Dr. Mahathir Mohamad where he visited and officiated the unveiling of the Limited Edition Perodua Bezza Autoshow edition and PROTON's preview of the facelifted Persona and Iriz.
There have been news articles or reports published recently that Perodua Bezza service costs are estimated at being 32% higher than those of the Proton Persona. So Perodua has now issued a press release where they wish to clarify that the information used by certain online portals on their service details is inaccurate and misleading. The media reports, posted on 11 March 2019, had illustrated the difference between the five-year service costs of the Proton Persona and two other car models, purportedly the Perodua Bezza and Honda City.
The 2019 Proton Persona facelift was officially unveiled to the Malaysian media yesterday and we also managed a test drive of the Persona 1.6 Premium CVT. This comes about eleven days after PROTON unveiled the 2019 Proton Iriz facelift. The whole preview process was held at PROTON’s Malaysia Design Centre and test track in Shah Alam. It was deja vu. Except this time the Iriz had become a Persona, which is essentially an Iriz with a boot. Since this is a facelift, the changes were down to the exterior styling, the addition of the voice command GKUI Infotainment system and some minor changes or quality improvements to 303 parts inside the facelifted Persona.
Sometime earlier today Proton revealed to the automotive media three images of the upcoming 2019 Proton Persona Facelift. This, is like the recent reveal of the Iriz Facelift, which is scheduled to be launched shortly. This is the first major facelift for the Persona and also the second car to receive a scheduled facelift since the Geely-Proton collaboration first started in 2017.
Lets go through what we can see from the images provided as well as what Proton has stated about them.
September 2018 was not a great month for Proton and other car retailers in Malaysia. 1st September 2018 saw SST being reimplemented after a three month tax holiday as the Malaysian government scrapped GST and was going to revert to SST. However, October 2018 sales for PROTON cars grew by 12.6% in October where 5,093 units were sold, an increase of 569 units over the previous month and a slight improvement over the corresponding period in 2017.
With the change of the new ruling party comes the promised removal of the Goods & Service Tax (GST), which caused a major outcry and may have been the main cause for the recent election results going the way it did. Anyway, an announcement was made recently that GST would be zero rated (0%) with effect 1st June 2018 before any reversal to the Sales & Service Tax format are made. In conjunction with this Proton has decided to offer an interim pricing scheme to ensure that their customers, both new car sales and also after sales, will benefit from the change.
It seems that PROTON has managed to somewhat stem the tide in terms of overall falling sales over the past two years or so. The Malaysian car manufacturing company recorded an overall sale of 70,991 units for 2017. Whilst this was a slight drop from the previous year - 72,291 units in 2016, the actual facts behind the figures show a positive outcome for Proton rather a totally negative one.
Proton has kick started the Chinese New Year festive promotion for their cars. The company is giving out prosperity discounts* for all Proton vehicle models. Proton will give up to RM3,500* for a Saga, up to RM4,500* for a Persona, up to RM5,000* for an Iriz, up to RM5,500* for an Exora and up to RM13,888* for a Perdana. Terms and conditions apply or course.
Bitcoin seems to be on people's mind these days. People are thinking that this virtual money can buy a lot of things even here in Malaysia until PROTON has decided to clarify on the matter. The whole thing became a bit of a viral hoo-haa because one PROTON dealer claimed that you could actually buy a Proton car using Bitcoin. This isn't the case folks. And the dealer has been suspended! So you CANNOT buy a Proton Iriz, Persona, Saga, Perdana, Ertiga with Bitcoin okay?
