Just had a few days trawling around Malaysia.
Around half of all the cars on the road are Proton. (I believe government protectionism in the form of import duties and tariffs kept overseas manufacturers at bay until recently). Plenty of old, decrepit Proton Sagas from the 90s still going strong, plus a newer 3-box version which reminds me of the Dacia Logan. Guess they must be pretty reliable?!
The Myvi seems to be a rebadged Daihatsu Charade - again nothing wrong with using tried and tested designs I guess?!
Not my cup of tea, but for the right (low) price I would have thought they would attract cost-conscious buyers in the UK who are seeking Dacias, MGs, Cherys, Great Walls, etc?
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The Myvi is a Perodua isn't it? A friend of the boss has a canary ("Kenari") from the same company. Proton and Perodua are separate companies, unless one has eaten the other recently and I don't know about it.
They stopped importing to the UK a while back - I think the Myvi, based on the Sirion, is OK (and the Kenari down the road is no bother as far as I know - it looks like a version of the Daihatsu Move.
Daihatsu packed it in after the strong yen after the crisis hit ruined the economics for them in a price competitive segment; they were never going to beat Hyundai and Kia or even get near them. I guess Perodua or Proton could have succeeded, if they had gone about it effectively enough ut they never got into decent numbers.
Older Proton models were Mitsubishi-based, Perodua did something similar with Daihatsu.
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The problem cheap new car manufacturers like Perodua have is that in the UK it is possible to buy an almost new and much better second hand car from a mainstream manufacturer for the same money.
Unless you overwhelmingly want a new car that is nearly always the best way to go
Last edited by: CGNorwich on Mon 31 Aug 15 at 09:43
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>> The problem cheap new car manufacturers like Perodua have is that in the UK it
>> is possible to buy an almost new and much better second hand car from a
>> mainstream manufacturer for the same money.
in many cases, less money.
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An old dear in my road had a mid eighties Proton something or other for all of the fourteen years we've lived here. It only expired a couple of months ago when the timing belt gave up the ghost a week after it passed the MoT.
She's replaced it with one of the tattiest looking Ka's I've ever seen.
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When the Perodua first appeared in the UK, I looked under the bonnet of one and was pleased, for old times's sake, to find the markings were all in Malay.
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Curious, that. My recently-departed Volvo had warnings about moving belts and hot pipes in English, French and German, but only the first aid kit was labelled in Swedish. Nothing at all in Dutch, which might have suited the Belgians who put it together.
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For a short time in the later 1980s I had a Proton franchise.
The cars were Mitsubishi Lancers, of the slightly earlier generation.
I went round The Proton factory in KL and the bodyshells and running gear were built there, but the engines and gearboxes were imported, completely assembled, from Mitsubishi in Japan.
They were as you might expect very reliable, but unexciting to drive and for the UK market came in hatchback & saloon versions.
IMO they were just a little too expensive for the bottom end (in price) UK market and we struggled to sell them.
We sold many more Ladas at the time, (almost a joint franchise tie-up) even though, by comparison, they were pretty agricultural - but at £3000 for a new Lada Riva 1200, there was quite a price jump for the aspirational new car buyer of limited means.
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I always liked the look of the Proton Impian. Good, honest, proper, value-for-money saloon car, with proven Japanese mechanicals.
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Proton should boldly name one of their cars the "Torpedo" so as to attract Star Trek fans.
The "Proton Torpedo" has a ring to it.
They could offer a five year guarantee. "It's Five Year Mission".
You could buy it and then if anybody criticised your choice of cars you could retort "It's just a phaser that I'm going through."
Or am I way off beam here?
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I think you might be a bit warped.
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some people just klingon to the old ways
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A neighbour of mine still runs an 'L' reg. Proton, think it's a Saga, judging by Google images. Not sure how many mile sit covers but it still looks reasonable, not much rust to be seen.
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Torpedo is definitely a better name than Saga. Just about anything would be.
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Likely to be a last of line '80s' MPI model or a more modern Persona or Compact. All Mitsubishi mechanicals although I cant vouch for the Malaysian build process. I'm with AL on the Impian, I like boxy saloons although spares would have been an issue I guess.
The purchase of Lotus bred some interesting models.
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>> Likely to be a last of line '80s' MPI model or a more modern Persona
>> or Compact.
Looking closer at Google images, it looks like a Saga Isawa, indeed known as the MPi in the UK.
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Proton - Still in UK market? - Manatee
