Proton Preve, the story of the first “international car” of the original manufacturer

The Proton Preve 2022 was a C-Segment model launched by the original manufacturer at the time, called the Global Car, and built with the highest specifications of domestic cars at the time. The original manufacturer was also very dedicated to this car at the time, and even got the legendary F1 driver to endorse it, but unfortunately, the car ended up in production before even a minor facelift.

According to the information, in 2009, it was revealed that the original manufacturer was building a new touring car, and the car was called Persona R, the Persona’s replacement, on the website at the time. The Tuah concept car was presented at the KLIMS 2010 and was seen as a prototype for the Persona R. By the standards of the time, the car was truly stunning in design.

After the Kuala Lumpur International Motor Show, a prototype of the car began to test on the road, and more news about the car came to light, including that the car was called P3-21A (P3 is the platform code, 21A is the model number), the car was built using Exora’s new scalable platform (equivalent to the current modular platform concept), and the car would adopt the then-popular turbo engine design in order to enter the European market. In order to enter the European market, the car will adopt the then-popular small exhaust turbo engine design and will have direct injection, but in 2011 the launch of the Exora Bold minor modification confirmed that the engine does not have direct injection technology, but consumers are still looking forward to this car, after all, from the Persona in 2007 to the Saga BLM in 2008, the Exora in 2009, the Inspira in 2010 Inspira all had a good response in the market, so this car, which was reportedly scheduled to be released in 2011, naturally earned a lot of attention.

In 2012, Proton began to announce details of the car, including the use of a turbocharged engine, the top version with four airbags, equipped with ESP (a rare feature in domestic cars at the time), and the introduction of hot-pressed steel up to 1480 MPa, and the NCAP 5-star standard, before the launch of the car reached the peak of its momentum, but half a month before the launch The Elantra MD was also launched in China, and because of its price advantage, the launch of the P3-21A was somewhat affected.

With the endorsement of former F1 champion driver Jean Alesi, the P3-21A was officially launched on April 16, 2012, with a total of three models, namely 1.6L IAFM+ MT, 1.6L IAFM+ CVT, and 1.6L Turbo CVT, of which the top version has shift paddles and manual shift mode, with a maximum horsepower of 138 Hp and peak torque of 205 Nm. It has a maximum horsepower of 138 Hp and peak torque of 205 Nm, while its transmission is also from Punch’s VT3 model, and according to official data, the car accelerates from 0-100 in 9.6 seconds.

The biggest question after the launch of this car is why the turbocharged engine horsepower and torque are so low? First of all, the car does not have direct injection technology, and then a little in order to meet the European emissions standards and marketed in Europe (although the European Proton has been released in the preview, but finally did not market in Europe) so the original factory reduced the horsepower output, but the initial release, the car sales results are still good, the average monthly sales can reach 2,000 units, and according to Wikipedia, the car sold 50,000 units worldwide in the first two years, which is not a bad achievement.

Subsequently, the ANCAP, the Australian NCAP agency, also announced the test results of the Preve, 5 stars, which is also the Proton’s best overseas test results, but at the time the Australian version of the Preve and China’s version has very obvious “difference in treatment”, mainly because China’s version is 4 airbags, the ordinary version only double airbags, while the Australian version is actually 6 airbags! This caused dissatisfaction among consumers at the time, so in 2013 the original manufacturer also launched a version of 6 airbags in China and corrected some problems, this version is also known as Preve ANCAP by the owners.

The car did perform well in terms of handling and safety, but because of some subsequent quality problems, such as the OCH problem that CamPro Turbo owners considered a nightmare, the car’s sales declined, so it almost became an invisible model, and the original manufacturer actually tried to continue the life of this car, and in 2018 the original manufacturer launched a minor upgrade of the Preve Version, the basic details without much improvement, mainly in the sound insulation and other places on the line to strengthen, and reduce the price, became the cheapest turbo models in our market at the time, but not much help for sales.

It is reported that Geely did not want to give up this model when they took over the Proton, because they felt that this model still had great potential, but because the two sides included a four-door saloon, positioning and Preve is very close, because the Preve and its brother Suprima S did not survive the minor revision was forced to stop production. It is reported that the successor to the Preve, codenamed SS11, will be released in China in the second half of this year, is a new generation of the Dihao, and will be released in 2022 in China, using a 1.5L turbocharged engine, but the positioning of the vehicle is B + Segment, so the price side can be guaranteed, only this car will not continue to use the name Preve, or as Will, the car continues to use the name Preve or, as rumored, the name S50? We need the official answer to us!