Team-BHP > The Indian Car Scene


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Old 18th June 2008, 09:18   #31
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Originally Posted by da_lowrider View Post
Hmm....the only foreseeable option for India is the new Proton Persona, its supposed to be all new and developed in-house, probably with help from Lotus. Have seen quite a few here in Australia, its also been ranked as the most fuel efficient 1.6 by the NRMA (National Roads and Motorists' Association), an organization similar to the WIAA. Got some pictures from the net, I've uploaded them
I had a chance to drive this Persona during my visit a fortnight back, it doesnt seem good in metal as it looks in the picture, the quality sucks!!!
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Old 9th October 2008, 15:39   #32
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Malaysian Proton Cars in India

Hi I have been Member of Team-BHP for Quiet sometime now. This is my first post

Proton Cars are coming to India. Their cars are good looking. There are specific few models coming to india

Hatchback & Saloon
  • CamPro 16V engine
  • Lotus-engineered precision handling
  • Full range of safety and security features
The ultimate city car
  • 5 door 1.2 litre engine
  • Spacious interior, stylish and safe
  • 6 contemporary solid and metallic colours
The 3 door supermini
  • CamPro 16V engine
  • Superior Lotus developed ride and handling
  • Distinctive interior and exterior styling
The new dual fuel car
  • LPG at no additional cost
  • Cheaper fuel
  • Lower emissions
  • 1.6 litre family car
The Cars are really good looking ones. It's gonna be here with a decent price tag. These are the basic models planned for India
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Old 9th October 2008, 16:17   #33
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the ones I have seen from Proton, are really noisy at high speeds. proton has largely struggled outside malaysia ..thats what i heard form some car experts in SE Asia
but they will add one more choice for indian buyers.
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Old 9th October 2008, 16:20   #34
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Are you sure they're coming? I thought they clinic-ed cars and found that people were surprised at the fact that Malaysia actualy made cars. The overall response was apparently bad and therefore they decided against making an entry, is what we were told.

There was also talk about NAS (the Malaysian dealer) making cars in India - is this a tie-up between the two?
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Old 9th October 2008, 16:26   #35
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head of proton

the person who is currently the head of proton for India, was previously with hyundai,who helped hyundai for its entry to India.
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Old 9th October 2008, 17:26   #36
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Do these cars have any names?
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Old 9th October 2008, 17:33   #37
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Originally Posted by Mpower View Post
Do these cars have any names?
Yes , they do have names !

related information can be accessed from their wiki entry : http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Proton_(carmaker)

Going by the article in ET:
Proton set to drive in to India- Automobiles-Auto-News By Industry-News-The Economic Times

The company has selected the 1.2-litre 5-door mini car Savvy, the 1.3-litre entry-level sedan Saga and the 1.6-litre second generation mid-size car Persona for the Indian market. And are expected early next year
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Old 10th October 2008, 09:03   #38
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Quote:
Originally Posted by Steeroid View Post
Are you sure they're coming? I thought they clinic-ed cars and found that people were surprised at the fact that Malaysia actualy made cars. The overall response was apparently bad and therefore they decided against making an entry, is what we were told.

There was also talk about NAS (the Malaysian dealer) making cars in India - is this a tie-up between the two?
Hi Steeroid

Did they really clinic-ed the car in India? Any idea which models?


Amit
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Old 10th October 2008, 10:02   #39
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the person who is currently the head of proton for India, was previously with hyundai,who helped hyundai for its entry to India.
Not exactly. BVR Subbu heads Argentum motors who were looking at assembling and distributing Protons from the old Daewoo plant
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Old 10th October 2008, 10:18   #40
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If i am right, proton cars have a good rally team and seem to have done rather okay in rally circuits. Also interesting to note that quite a few of the cars seem to be based on mistsubishi cars. Below is an interesting link Proton Manufacturer Profile & Rally History : Rallye-Info.com. Off topic: Saw in the news papers recently that proton was in dire straits and is planning to sell its stakes with MV Augusta and is trying to get VW to take care of its sagging finances.
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Old 10th October 2008, 10:49   #41
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Proton car s are basically bought and driven by malaysian s it seem s to be like Be malaysian buy malaysian kind of loyalty . On my visit to malaysia i was taxied around in a few of them and as pointed out by another member they really have a huge engine noise at high rpm . Crusing at 100 was worrysome as far as i remember !!
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Old 10th October 2008, 10:56   #42
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I am tired of hearing this news. More than a decade back, when magazines like ACI or OD were not even existing, there have been reports of this car maker entering our market. The car that was thought to hit India was Satria ( Mitsubishi Colt ).

The products they have will have a tough time breaking into our market. Feul Efficiency wont be enough, specially in the small car market. Example ? Zen Estilo is reported to have an edge over Wagon R in case of fuel efficiency, but the sales numbers speak otherwise.

And as we all know, our market is very, very unique. Global gaints like GM and Fiat have found going tough for various reasons. Proton simply doesnt have anything good to mark a smashing entry and find success.

The range might look good, but the cars are not proven. Moreover, they will have to establish wide spread dealer network.
Eventually, I would like to say that Proton simply has no place to stand in our tough market with its present range of products. Establishing dealer network ( both quantity and quaity ) must be very, very well planned.
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Old 10th October 2008, 11:04   #43
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Nope; dont think it will add anything to the Indian market & we will be better off without them. The cars are bad (very lack lustre, boring and totally lacking in performance) and even the malaysians dont take any pride in them; nor do they want to own them. From what I can recall, the price is lower than any of the foreign made cars and hence it has a market. Their cars are mostly used as taxis..... something like Premier Padmini.
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Old 10th October 2008, 11:20   #44
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most of the earlier protons were discontinued Mitsubishis.... even to date their quality sucks and driving dynamics belong to a bygone era- I have driven a Proton Wira and a perdana quite a bit and when I came back to India, driving my Hyundai Accent felt like heaven! This is actually quite surprising since Proton owns Lotus and Lotus is said to have worked on their cars extensively. But then, there is only so much you can do to improve a bad product.
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Old 10th October 2008, 11:27   #45
 
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Proton should have been here by now. They have been testing at ARAI for a while now.
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