Proton (Carmaker)

Proton LogoPerusahaan Otomobil Nasional better known as National Automobile Enterprise or PROTON, is a Malaysian automobile manufacturer founded in the year 1983. It was Malaysia’s only carmaker for a span of 10 years, until the establishment of Perodua, its competitor. The company has its headquarters at Shah Alam, Selangor, with a manufacturing plant in Tanjung Malim, Perak.

Proton started production of its first car, Proton Saga, in September 1985, with the technology and parts from the Mitsubishi Motors. All the components were at first manufactured by Mitsubishi. As time passed, Proton started producing local parts. Proton Saga was a big hit and they went on to produce the 100,000th Proton Saga in January 1989. The company changed their logo, a year later.

Based on Mitsubishi Lancer/Colt, Proton introduced a new model, Proton Wira, in the year 1993. More than 220,000 units of this model were sold between the years 1996 and 1998. They also started producing their new model, Proton Perdana (which is based on Mitsubishi Galant/Eterna), in 1995. Proton started designing their cars internally by 2001; Proton Waja was the first car and it came out the same year.

In the year 1996, Proton owned Lotus Cars. The gain of additional source of engineering, technology and automotive expertise lead to the production of Proton Gen-2 (code named Wira Replacement Model, WRM). This became the first car to be manufactured and assembled at the new plant in Tanjung Malim, Perak. In 2005, Proton acquired MV Agusta. The same year, they introduced Proton Savvy, the 1200 cc 5-door supermini. It became the second model to be manufactured in Tanjung Malim.

In 2007, Proton launched Persona, its new sedan, a replacement version for Wira Sedan. The consecutive year, the replacement model for Proton Saga, code named Proton BLM, was launched. Soon, they came up with Proton Exora, a multipurpose vehicle.

Proton announced developing of a new fuel efficient model, a hybrid car which would address the environmental concerns, in the year 2008. The same year they again entered in talks with Mitsubishi, for the replacement of Waja (based on Mitsubishi Lancer) and entering certain markets of Proton Persona and Exora as Mitsubishi vehicles.
For over 20 years, Proton exports their cars to more than 25 countries including United Kingdom, Thailand, Iran, South Africa, Australia, Singapore and several Middle-East countries. They began exports from Malaysia and moved on to New Zealand in the late 1980s. But their success was limited to United Kingdom, a market that it entered in the year 1989, along with Ireland. Proton withdrew from New Zealand and Irish market by 1990s.

The company’s sales dropped in the year 2006, and this paved way for Perodua, their competitor, to overtake Proton to become the top selling carmaker in Malaysia. Although the spot is still held by Perodua, it is a fact that Proton have sold about 3 million cars till August 2008, starting from 1985; the 3 millionth car being the second generation Saga.

Proton has initiated talks with Germany’s Volkswagen, to explore the possibility of beginning a strategic partnership. In 2008, Detroit Electric came up with the proposal for production of electric vehicles around the world. According to them, Proton cars are to be used and tested for validation of their technology.

- Devu Narayanan