Proton Satria Neo S2000 starts pre-season testing

Proton has started pre-season tests for its Satria Neo Super 2000 rally car, which will compete a full season in the Asia Pacific Rally Championship (APRC) and selected races of the Intercontinental Rally Challenge (IRC) in 2010, according to Alister McRae during our recent taxi ride session with him. The team plans to campaign more than one car, so it’s using a test session in Wales as a chance to “audition” new drivers.

Finland’s Anton Alen and Matti Rantanen and Belgian Francois Duval drove the Neo S2000 at the Sweet Lamb test facility in Wales. Chris Mellors, who runs MEM, the outfit that built the car, said: “We had three great drivers who gave us some very positive and valuable feedback. From our point of view one of the most encouraging things is that we put the equivalent of a world championship rally distance on the car without having to do any work to it.”

Alen, who is considering Proton as one of his options for next season’s IRC, said: “The car felt very stable and the engine had a really good spread of torque right from the bottom all the way to the top.”

A couple of days after the test, Duval slipped on some ice back in his homeland and broke two vertebrae in his back. He is expected to recover fully, but will be out of action for at least eight weeks

Miss Australia Universe endorses the Proton Saga!

The Saga is the latest model to join Proton Australia’s line-up, selling Down Under as the Proton S16. As its name suggests, the S16 is powered by the 110 bhp 1.6-litre Campro IAFM engine paired to a five-speed manual ‘box.

Its drive away retail price of $11,990 makes it the lowest priced new car in Australia. Before launch, Proton billed the S16 as the cheapest sedan in the market, but latest currency exchange rates have given the S16 an even stronger selling point.

The auto version will debut shortly while July 2010 will see the introduction a GXR variant that adds dual airbags, ABS, alloys, reverse sensors and fog lamps to the kit list.

It’s clearly a very good deal, but since the Saga’s looks aren’t exactly what you’d call pretty, Proton Australia has signed on Miss Universe Australia 2009 Rachael Finch for some “look at me” appeal. She will be featured in all S16 ads in Australia. A clearer view of the lovely Miss Finch is available after the jump!

Lotus appoints ex-Ferrari man as head of design De

Lotus has announced the appointment of Donato Coco as the Group’s Director of Design. In this newly created position, Mr Coco will lead all design activities for Lotus Cars and Lotus Engineering. He will assume the role on 4 January 2010.

The Italian was previously Director of Design and Development at Ferrari where he worked on the F430 Scuderia coupé and Spider 16M, Ferrari California, 599XX and the freshly launched F458 Italia. Prior to Ferrari, Donato was Chief Designer at Citroën and was responsible for the Picasso, C3, C3 Pluriel, C2, C1 and the Xsara WRC, amongst others. Coco holds an MA in Automotive Design from the Royal College of Art, London.

Head of Lotus Design, Russell Carr will continue to work on both Lotus products and third party design work, an area which is growing rapidly especially in emerging Asian markets such as China.

The Lotus F1 Drivers in Malaysia made a short visit

Lotus F1 Drivers, Jarno Trulli and Heikki Kovalainen have a short visit to Proton’s Centre of Excellence (COE) in Shah Alam, Malaysia. They have a closed door meeting with the Proton management, possessing few pictures and what left. Heikkin looked really interested in Proton Satria Neo S2000 Rally car that just came from the second finish in Rally of Scotland, taking a seat and asked questions. Check out photos of the LotusF1 drivers after the jump. (Credit to Paultan for info and pictures.)

2010 Proton Persona facelift sighted on test!

Click for high resolution image

Drex Chan sent in these great photos of what appears to be the Proton Persona facelift that’s due next year. The Persona was first launched in 2007, so mid next year would be about the right time for a facelift if you follow a 5 year model lifecycle, though most of us probably feel like a replacement is due since the Persona is actually a GEN2 sedan, and the GEN2 has been around a long time.

Click for high resolution image

The front bumper is derived from the GEN2 CPS. The rear end shows tail lamps that have been taped up to hide an updated design. It looks like Proton has incorporated the use of LED lighting in the updated Persona’s tail lamps.

Two more details – firstly the wing mirrors also appear to be taped up. The tape hides the use of turn signal indicators integrated in the wing mirrors. Secondly, in the engine bay we can see that the engine uses coil on plug ignition, which means it is a Campro IAFM engine. This means that Proton is continuing with the separation of the Campro into two different versions – the IAFM engine as an economy-skewed engine while the CPS engine is more for power. They should really just have one powerful and fuel efficient engine for the 1.6 liter size – I’m sure it will be better for economies of scale.

There are a few more photos that you can view at drexchan’s fotopic page. UPDATE: Drex has sent in the pix on his fotopic page to be hosted here instead, as his fotopic page has ran out of bandwidth. According to Drex, the test engineers informed him that the IAFM engine would get an improved ECU. Look after the jump for the rest of the pix.

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2009 PROTON PERSONA CM GX $18,990*

 

Drive Away No More to Pay

Total photo(s): 6

vehicle details

Vehicle
2009 PROTON PERSONA CM GX

Price
$18,990* Drive Away No More to Pay

Kilometres
0

Colour
metal grey

Transmission
4 speed Automatic

Body
4 door 5 seat SEDAN

DriveType
Front

Reg Plate
TBA

Engine
4 cylinder Unleaded Multi-point injected 1.6L (1597cc)

VIN
tba

Stock #
N89013

Comments

CAN YOU AFFORD $79 A WEEK never to be repeated price on the persona, over $2000 savings. this car has full option with alloys keyless entry and boot with rear sensors, come with 3 year wrrty and racv road side assis. dose 6.6 kms per 100 kms and its the same size as corolla or a focus and a mazda 3

vehicle features *(please confirm with seller)

12V Sockets - Auxiliary
Engine Immobiliser

15In Alloy Wheels
Floor Mats

4 Speaker Stereo
Fog Lamps - Front

Abs (Antilock Brakes)
Fog Lamps - Rear

Adjustable Steering Col. - Tilt Only
Headlamps - Clear Lenses

Air Conditioning
Intermittent Wipers

Airbags - Driver & Passenger (Dual)
Metallic Finish Centre Stack/ Hvac

Alarm
Metallic Finish Door Handles - Interior

Audio - Mp3 Decoder
Metallic Finish Gear Shift Gate

Body Colour - Bumpers
Metallic Finish Inserts

Body Colour - Door Handles
Metallic Finish Instrument Surrounds

Body Colour - Exterior Mirrors Partial
Multi-Function Steering Wheel

Body Side Mouldings - Colour Coded
Power Door Mirrors

Cd Player
Power Steering

Central Locking - Remote/Keyless
Power Windows - Front & Rear

Chrome Exhaust Tip
Remote Boot/Hatch Release

Chrome Rear Garnish
Remote Fuel Lid Release

Clear Side Indicator Lenses
Seat - Height Adjustable Driver

Control - Park Distance Rear
Seatbelt - Pretensioners 1St Row (Front)

Cup Holders - 1St Row
Seats - 2Nd Row Split Fold

Cup Holders - 2Nd Row
Sunvisor - Vanity Mirror For Passenger

Disc Brakes Front Ventilated
Tacho

Disc Brakes Rear Solid
Trip Computer

Ebd (Electronic Brake Force Distribution)

Mysterious clay model in Proton R&D video

The clay model you see above was captured from a Proton R&D video clip posted onto Youtube by a user. You’ll be able to see the clay model around the 41 second mark. I’ve no idea what it’s supposed to be, but anything that just might be a preview of a future Proton model is always intriguing. It could also only be some kind of old design study that’ll never see the light of day But back to reality – it actually kinda looks like a GEN2/Persona, with unfinished headlamps, so it could be a half way done clay model on the way to becoming a GEN2/Persona. You can watch the video after the jump

Persona Problem

Done regular service at 44k mileage.
Engine sounds tep tep tep. It was canistor problem. Order and wait 2 weeks
until service centre call me back.
Another sound like 'kelukkkk' when make U-turn or hard cornering.
Mechanic said, it was steering valve problem. Order and wait for 2 weeks also.
Lucky it was in warranty period...will update soon when finish changing both item.