KUALA LUMPUR, Sept 7 — Proton is launching their first SUV in Malaysia very soon and this is the first product that’s co-developed by Geely and Proton. During the exclusive preview to the media, it was revealed that the SUV will be called the Proton X70 and it’s open for booking starting tomorrow.
To be among the first to own the Proton X70, you can place a deposit of RM1,000 beginning September 8, 2018. To see the vehicle up close, Proton will be organising preview sessions for the public between September 19 until November 4, 2018 across seven cities throughout Malaysia which include Kuching and Kota Kinabalu.
The X70 name was selected from a total of 89,800 submissions through an online contest. This is the first alphanumeric naming system used on a Proton model. According to their research, this would allow them to sell the X70 in Asean as well as international markets without language barriers to overcome. The letter X is synonyous Crossover or SUV while the number 70 denotes the type of class or size (bigger means larger).
The Proton X70 is based on the Geely Boyue which is also known as the Geely Emgrand X7 in other markets. The design team had made some changes to the exterior in order to differentiate the X70 from Geely’s model.
The front grill will get a different design featuring a large Proton badge that’s framed with three black horizontal bars. There’s also daytime running lights (DRL) which gives it a “pair of eyes” that mimics the face of a Malayan Tiger. Meanwhile, the interior gets premium materials such as Nappa leather and brushed aluminium accents, and there’s also a touchscreen interface on the dashboard.
There are no pricing details yet but the Proton X70 is expected to be available sometime in November. There will be a total of 3 variants and it will be priced below the Honda CR-V. The CR-V is currently priced from RM138,308 for the base 2.0L 2WD variant and it goes all the way up to RM163,191 for its range topping 1.5L TC-P 2WD model. — SoyaCincau
