Born: 1985 Nationality: Malaysian
The result of a Malaysian state wish to establish a National Car Project by the country's premier, Dr Mahathir Mohamed, Proton was set up with state support and a 70 per cent capitalisation from Mitsubishi Motors and Mitsubishi Corporation. The first car, the Saga, rolled off the lines in 1985. It had a 1.3-litre engine, was based on a Mitsubishi Lancer Fiore, and as part of the marketing programme it was substantially cheaper than the competition, all of which was imported and taxed heavily.
Unfortunately, the Malaysian economy went into serious recession, and initially the Saga never came close to its planned production of 80,000 cars a year. By 1989, when 100,000 Sagas had been produced, the market was starting to grow again. The company tried to expand into the US market to increase numbers and earn hard currency. But a deal with Malcolm Bricklin to do this collapsed, mainly because of the major changes that would have to be made for the car to meet US regulatory requirements.
Prior to that, an export business had been developed to New Zealand, Ireland and Britain, and that latter market has sold Protons ever since.
In 1993, a Mitsubishi Colt-based model was introduced, the Wira. It proved to be very popular and was sold until 1998, by which time it was being produced in numbers well exceeding 100,000 units a year.
In 1994, Proton took another Mitsubishi car, this time the upper-market Eterna, and produced a V6 version as the Perdana. The next model was based on the Citroën AX, and called the Tiara. It was built under licence and was powered by a 1.1-litre engine, and sold for a relatively short time between 1996 to 2000.
Looking to the sports car market, the marque also borrowed from the Mitsubishi Lancer Evo and produced the Pert. They race the current version in WRC.
The Putra also came on the market in the late 1990s, mostly with a 1.8-litre engine but turbocharged 2-litre versions were also produced; and the Satria sports hatch was produced - from it also came the 1.3-litre Persona sedan, the spiritual successor to the original Saga.
And two years ago, mainly for the Australian market, Proton produced a pick-up version called the Arena but known as the Jumbuck outside of Malaysia's local markets. It is powered by a 1.5-litre petrol engine.
Meantime, the first Proton to be developed in-house, the Waja, was launched in 2000, to replace the Wira. It is also sold in European markets as the Impian, and is powered by a 1.6-litre engine. This was added to in 2004 by the Gen-2, which is truly the first all-Malaysian car, because all components, including the 1.3-and 1.6-litre engines, are made there.
The other current model, though not available in Europe, is a Mitsubishi-based one, the Juara mini-MPV powered by a 1-litre engine. A long-awaited replacement for the Tiara is almost ready to launch and will be called the Savvy.
Proton also owns the Lotus Engineering Group, which it acquired in 1996, and the MV Augusta motorcycle company, which it bought in 2004. The Malaysian company recently signed an agreement with Volkswagen, under which the sharing of common parts, systems and products is almost a certainty.
• BEST CAR: For the wild at heart, but they can't get it here, the Pert.
• WORST CAR: Probably that original Saga, which disappeared very fast when they stopped selling it in Ireland.
• WEIRDEST CAR: The rally version of the Pert, which out-EVOs the EVO.