The Temple of VTEC - Honda and Acura Enthusiasts Online Forums > Today's Reading Links > > Re: Honda in tie-up with Malaysia's Proton

FiSH-Chan wrote:

'Unimaginative models and poor quality' is probably a very nice way to put it. My parents had a Proton once, when it was stolen we couldn't be happier. Well ok it is exaggeration, but it was still more good news than bad news.

According to WongKN, it is most likely just collobaration to make small car (Honda Brio) to Malaysian market using Proton name, since Proton is so bad at what they do they can't make any proper cars and always need Mitsubishi, and now Honda's help.

Oh ya the thing about Lotus.. might be good if Lotus has stuff that Honda don't know, but I always figure Honda can do what Lotus knew in the handling and with benefit of reliability. So it's not like it's big news for me.

Come on Fish, it's not that bad :P When I was studying at PJ in 2000 I had the utmost respect for Proton. Hitch a ride on my dad's friend then brand new Proton Waja, and it's okay, nothing spectacular. However the pride my dad's friend had driving the car is just leaking everywhere... Can't stop talking about how Proton will deliver Malaysia automotive recognition globally (well, hats up to him).

I like the Savvy and to certain extend, the Saga. To me, the Savvy is not that bad looking compared to the Brio, the stepped side window made it look like a 2 door sport car without the need to hide the door handle and make it awkward to use like Civic Euro and Nissan Juke.

Maybe the grass is greener on the other side, but you have something to be proud of, we have nothing.

BachelorFrog

Re: Honda in tie-up with Malaysia's Proton (Score: 1, Normal)

10-31-2012 13:15

CafeDelMar90 wrote:
S600=Dream wrote:
Q: Does Proton still own Lotus?

yes, still owned by Proton. This is perhaps the most significant aspect of the Honda-proton collaboration.

Honda NSX with suspension/ handling tuned by Lotus?? yes please!

Or their weight saving method.

Offtopic: admins/mod...fix this broken thread.

blackstripe77

Re: Honda in tie-up with Malaysia's Proton (Score: 1, Normal)

10-31-2012 13:50

I'm more interested in Lotus being powered by Honda! K20 Elise/Exige anyone??

Only problem with that is that... as far as I know all K20s have been replaced with the frugal and characterless R20, and the F20 has been out of production for some years now... Maybe instead we will see the new Esprit/Elan/Elite with a Honda K24 or V6? I can already see Lotus outselling the NSX with a lightweight, non-hybrid, Honda-powered mid engined rear drive car...

DrWhiner

Re: Honda in tie-up with Malaysia's Proton (Score: 1, Normal)

10-31-2012 17:52

I think Lotus is currently more or less on life support.

Former CEO fired and his plan scrapped.

FiSH-Chan

Re: Honda in tie-up with Malaysia's Proton (Score: 1, Normal)

10-31-2012 20:43

Midi_Amp wrote:

Come on Fish, it's not that bad :P When I was studying at PJ in 2000 I had the utmost respect for Proton. Hitch a ride on my dad's friend then brand new Proton Waja, and it's okay, nothing spectacular. However the pride my dad's friend had driving the car is just leaking everywhere... Can't stop talking about how Proton will deliver Malaysia automotive recognition globally (well, hats up to him).

I like the Savvy and to certain extend, the Saga. To me, the Savvy is not that bad looking compared to the Brio, the stepped side window made it look like a 2 door sport car without the need to hide the door handle and make it awkward to use like Civic Euro and Nissan Juke.

Maybe the grass is greener on the other side, but you have something to be proud of, we have nothing.

Our first Proton was the Iswara. That model is probably the worst of all in the history of Proton, maybe exception of the Tiara. It rattles like 9.0 earthquake after a while and nothing could fix that, even spending $$$ on engine mount and all those replacement. The hood also rattles like baby rattler for no reason. It overheated for no reason, the metal rust for no reason (yes it was 1000x worse than the early Hondas) and at "speed" (80km/h) the wind noise and road noise was sounds like the car was coming apart. This model is also one of the most popular back in the day, and those still around and getting involved in accidents, they crumple like a cigarette box in your hands. This model was supposed to come after the Megavalve which was quite reasonably good car (it was what prompted my parents to get one after seeing their friend's 1990 Saga 1.5 megavalve)

To top it off, Proton was leaking money because they can't compete with other car manufacturers (even in their own playground meant to help Proton) about 10 years back and a lot of taxpayer money was pump into it to 'help' it. This is where a lot of disatisfaction toward Proton is, aside from getting 'burn' by their products. Like I said above some people lose their life over it.

To be honest, the Waja was one of the better cars from Proton although they market it to challenge BMW (they would be lucky to challenge a Civic) and some of the Proton are getting better mechanically, but the interior of one I sat in recently has buttons reminded me of the early Nokia phones. The worn out Nokia buttons, where you push it and it doesn't trigger and you have to push it hard enough.

A77

Re: Honda in tie-up with Malaysia's Proton (Score: 1, Normal)

10-31-2012 22:25

I was living in Malaysia when Dr Mahathir announced his plan to put Malaysia on the automotive map - wanting to move the economy beyond just CKD assembly capability and garner greater international credibility. A noble aim, but naysayers were quick to point out that the Malaysian market (pop 12 million then) was nowhere near big enough to sustain a car industry profitably. No matter...With a lot of Mitsubishi input - especially engines and trannies it went ahead and did better than many expected. They have sold quite a few in Britain in the past, though none have been anywhere near class leading. Mitsubishi's fortunes haven't exactly been any better.

But a Lotus Honda tie up is mouth watering.

Bullwinkle

Re: Honda in tie-up with Malaysia's Proton (Score: 1, Normal)

11-01-2012 13:22

WHat is the brand image of Proton?

Fan Koni

Re: Honda in tie-up with Malaysia's Proton (Score: 1, Normal)

11-01-2012 18:48

On the Sydney show they had 2 new cars - a mini van and a small sedan - both looked to me like Mitsubishi models.

Anyhow their S16 is probably the cheapest car in Australia.

I can imagine Honda will sell Proton designs / tools of the soon replaced Jazz/Fit family, but in exchange for what???

Can't imagine that Lotus still has enough top engineers hanging around.

FiSH-Chan

Re: Honda in tie-up with Malaysia's Proton (Score: 1, Normal)

11-01-2012 21:38

Bullwinkle wrote:
WHat is the brand image of Proton?

Somewhere between nothing and bad.