I heard over the radio today that Proton might just be launching yet another model. To me, anything new is exciting. As with anything new, there are always the trust-worthy spies armed with a spy camera or a device as simple as a mobile phone camera who would manage to snap a picture or two.
In an effort to seek for these pictures, I went online and started searching. Within minutes – there it was – staring me in the face were pictures of the code named “SRM” – Satria Replacement Model.
Pictures from autoweek.nl
If you were to ask me, the car looks pretty sleek. Proton seems to be bringing in some pretty good talents as far as design is concerned. With aesthetics taken cared of, all that is left now is quality control.
With Proton’s competitive priced + great aesthetics + great quality cars, Proton is certainly heading towards a brighter future.
Apart from the SRM, there were also rumours of a replacement for the least successful “Tiara” – ironically code named – TRM (Tiara Replacement Model) – I’ll keep an eye on this.
Bring on SRM and TRM!
Proton is going to lose market share to Perodua/Daihatsu and other foreign car makers regardless whether they launch some spanking new cool model. I have heard horrendous stories of car replacement policies, how simple things like car windows on the Gen II have problems, etc… nightmare.
One fine day, all the foreign car makers are going to come into Malaysia and gobble up the whole market. Guaranteed. Then the day comes when we can buy BMWs for prices retailing in the USA.
Mr King, Mr King… 1 word – faith. Sure, Proton has brought along with them plenty of negative comments and remarks about their quality.
My position is that there is always an opportunity for change. Companies, like humans have to learn. Take baby steps and someday, they will be successful individuals.
Give people or organizations opportunities to change. Without opportunities, change will never suffice.
Things move at a crawl here in Malaysia. Proton may take baby steps but is it enough to catch up with foreign carmakers? Proton still has a lot more defects than say a Toyota. Heck, don’t even talk about economies of scale cost savings. Technology? Well, Proton bought Lotus some time ago and their Gen II still has silly problems.
Proton has been protected by the government for twenty years and here we see Perodua (49% owned by Malaysians) doing a better job under protection, maybe because Perodua doesn’t look at >1.3L cars. Heck, Daihatsu may be a better car but it is owned by Toyota (need to check on this). So foreign car makers and Perodua have something like 56% of the Malaysian car market now. Proton used to have 60%.
My belief is that 15 years from now, we will all be driving Hondas, Toyotas, BMWs, Mercedes, Chevrolets, Renaults, etc…
Haha… let’s not speculate… only time will tell…