Wheee! Malaysia made it to the international scene again
After a 5 year break, PROTON returns to the coveted Asia Pacific Rally Championship (APRC) and such efforts were all worth it! They emerged second in the Manufacturer’s Championship in its first full season!
Congratulations fellas!
Alister McRae and Chris Atkinson reaffirmed the Malaysian car manufacturer’s resolve, determination and competitiveness in the global rallying arena after completing with a one-two finish at the China Rally last weekend
The spirited drive by McRae also earned the Scottish driver third placing in the APRC Driver’s Championship – a bigger cause for celebration at the PROTON camp! π π
You go guys!! π Woohoo!
This victory reaffirms the Satria Neo S2000 and PROTON’s competitiveness as a manufacturer on the international rally arena. Although this year was initially declared as specially devoted to testing and development, they still came in second in the APRC Manufacturer’s Championship!
Group Managing Director Dato’ Haji Syed Zainal Abidin Syed Mohamed Tahir expresses that
"This is certainly a cause for celebration,” π I cannot agree more!
Although hampered by a series of misfortunes throughout the season, it certainly have proven not to dampen their spirits. Overall,
PROTON had competed in five of the six APRC rounds this year that began with the Rally of Malaysia, Rally of Japan, Rally of New Zealand and Rally of Australia.
Prior to this recent victory in China, PROTON’s best result was a second place in the Rally of New Zealand!
Top 3 winners! π
In addition to the APRC, the Satria Neo S2000 had also competed in this year’s Intercontinental Rally Challenge (IRC) where it went head to head with the likes of lotsa godlike Manufacturer Teams like Peugeot, Skoda, Ford, Abarth Fiat, Honda as well as Mitsubishi and Subaru.
Scary, no? π
Tight competition yo!
Dato’ Haji Syed Zainal Abidin said motorsports is one of several key strategies being pursued to establish PROTON as a global brand. What a smart way to catch the attention of the international eye, if I do say so myself π
Motorsports has proven to be an ideal and cost-effective platform for the company to generate greater brand awareness in the countries it exports its vehicles to. The world wouldn't know what an awesome and drool worthy car we have if we didn't expose it in the first place, right? π
Equally important, it has also provided PROTON the opportunity to showcase the reliability, strength and performance of the Satria Neo.
In terms of exposure, both the APRC and IRC events command enormous publicity and television viewers worldwide to promote the PROTON brand globally.
To be honest, the Proton Satria Neo was my initial dream for my first car the moment I graduated from high school. But sadly, when I already attained my driver's license and P car sticker, Satria Neo wasn't out yet!! π π And I couldn't wait so I had to resort to other cars. Bummer!
Guess what? A top Japanese team also shares a similar passion. They are also looking into the possibility of fielding the Satria Neo in next year’s Asia Cup category in the APRC.
To boast even more for my local-born car, PROTON last competed as a factory-backed team at the 2004 Rally of Canberra in which it finished fifth in the overall classifications and has won the APRC title three times in 2001, 2002 and 2004.
PROTON also won the FIA Production Car World Rally Championship on its debut in 2002
*ethnocentricity kicks in*
The love for local born cars! π π π
In China, the Satria Neo S2000 stamped its competitiveness by being the only Super 2000 rally car to compete against a field largely dominated by the turbocharged Mitsubishi Lancer Evolution and Subaru Impreza rally cars.
To add another feather in their cap, PROTON’s success in China was also the debut of four Proton Gen2s that completed the 229.19km rally.
The very sleek Proton Gen 2. Loves!
The cars are known in China as the Europestar, under an OEM collaboration between PROTON and Zhejiang Youngman Passenger Car Group Co. Ltd. I love the name, sounds super-cool
Another shot of the Gen 2 on the road!! π
A very durable car built for steady journeys indeed
That being said, congratulations once again Proton! π π
Make us proud again, ya hear? Hehe
*throws confetti*
It’s times like this that make me hate living in the States where we don’t get Proton cars. I can’t recall if they are on or version of the video game “Gran Tourismo 4” either. This is the first I recall of hearing about this company. What’s even worse is that by living in Georgia the only races I ever hear about are Nascar races. Which I find to be increadibly dull and boreing. Thank you Jess for showing me something new!
hehehee but don’t u guys have ur own locally manufactured cars too? π
and yeah, other than races, Daytona, Initial D and Grand Theft Auto race games in the arcade showed me lotsa car brands too.
China’s race is pretty large-scare and grand, was so glad when Proton did well!
no problem π π
We do have local cars here but none are marketed as Rally cars really. As for the Daytona 500, that’s just one race in the already mentioned Nascar series. Initial D is known as more of an anime or manga than an actual race here. And all the cars in the Grand Theft Auto games are ficticious. And unfortunately the masses of Amerca don’t seem to look outside of this country for much of anything including racing. I’ve never heard anyone taalking about any race from China. I’m not even sure if our channel “Speed” (a racing car centric channel) even covered it. I know I’m being really negative but it’s upsetting to me to think about how most people in the States are s un aware of the rest of the world. Alright, I’m taking off my Emo makeup now.
ohh icic! damn. hmm.. so mebbe thats where the internet comes in, the gateway to things the telly doesnt show! π π
in fact, i myself dont even know of the races elsewhere. our local newspaper helps to feed us with info hehe. If everything else fails, Google is our best friend woots!
LOL emo make up! so cute XD
Did you know PROTON is short for “PRide Of The natiON”? I’m not sure, if it’s really a pride, cuz the good ones have Toyota engine π My ex had Gen2, a gray one. It was ok, but insde too much cheap plastic. The paint started to go off, like fading away and then the car looked so used up inside, even though it was only few years old. Maybe she bought the basic model, I don’t know. But I always liked Honda City more. Oops.. don’t wanna spoil your pride here π Ok, I take it back, before I get spanked by an angry proud Malaysian dearie π
omg i didnt know! really? wow pride of the nation. sounds very very patriotic! π haha thanks fo the info!
LOL really? my mom has a Proton too, and we love it just fine… and its super worth it for the reasonable price too! π π
hahaaa well yeahh, Honda City is indeed nice but then again look at the price that comes with it lol! >__<
Indeed pride of our nation !! *confetti cannon cum kompang*
Satria Neo has always been my favourite.
haahahah confetti canon and kompang LOLOLOL! π
good way to celebrate hahahahahahah. dont forget the teh!
neo is my fave toooooooooo! Would have gotten that if it was already out when I graduated frm driving school π π
why the sudden post about Proton? lol.
btw, Mr Kafkaesque, the older Proton are powered by Mitsubishi engines. If I’m not mistaken the one in the Wira is the 4G63p. The one in the older Saga is from the Magma series, also from Mitsubishi. No Protons were equipped with engines from Toyota unless you did the transplant yourself. Would love to see a JZ in some of them though, haven’t seen such swaps yet so far. lol.
as for the gen2, they are powered by Proton’s very own Campro engine. The older campro engine did not come with the cam profiling system which the new one has.
Steven, there are a lot of races in the USA. There’s the IndyCar Series, D1 Grand Prix, Formula Drift, 24 Hours of Le Mans, Pikes Peak International Hill Climb and many others. And the LA autoshow is going on till the 27th. Besides that, I’m sure your local race tracks/drag strips have their own events such as time attacks and drag showdowns..
hehe cos i was very proud of them making a name in China!! π it’s a very prominent rally ma. Thumbs up! π
LOLOL okay I shall let you do the car-talk here since you’re more into cars than I am haha.
and why do u seem to know so much abt engines one?? O__o And also the various races available in another country one? fuiyoh.
because those are the few popular engines.. haha.. n the races are kind of popular too. π
btw, are you good with scripts? javascripts..
no wor! not popular to me!! π π cos i dunno. wuuuuu.
haha nopey, not good at javascripts or anythin similar
ok ok. maybe cause i have interest in it. alright thanks, was looking to get two javascripts to work together. not sure why they are having issues with each other. lol.
have a nice day. π