SUBANG JAYA: Just two months after being launched, the Proton Preve has locked in some of 11,310 units, making it the most popular 1.6-litre sedan in the market.

Offered in three variants of the Premium with 1.6-litre Charged Fuel Efficiency or CFE (turbocharged) engine mated to a seven-speed ProTronic continuously variable transmission (CVT), and two Executive variants featuring a 1.6-litre CamPro IAFM+ engine with a six-speed CVT or a five-speed manual, the Preve (pronounced as pray-vay) is a compelling value for money package.

“With more than 10,000 Preve booked to date, and with the numbers increasing every day, it has quickly established itself as the consumer’s preferred choice of compact sedan.

“This is a very positive sign for us and further proof that Proton can engineer and manufacture world class products,” said Proton Holdings Bhd executive chairman, Datuk Seri Mohd Khamil Jamil.

He added that a total of almost 1,000 units were booked by eager customers as early as March, a month before the launch while another 4,893 units were booked in the month of April.

“It was a vehicle that was eagerly anticipated by the market and continues to be well received, not only because it is affordable and offers owners a low cost of ownership, but excels in the terms of styling, performance, safety and equipment level,” said Khamil.

Priced from RM72,990 on-the-road (peninsular Malaysia) for the Premium variant, RM62,990 for the Executive CVT and RM59,990 for the Executive with manual transmission, the Prevé comes with a five-year or 150,000km warranty (whichever comes first) making it an affordable as well as attractive family and executive sedan.

The Preve Premium variant also offers the performance equivalent to that of higher 2.0-litre engine capacity vehicle, with its 1.6-litre power plant producing 138bhp and maximum torque of 205Nm.

Besides offering the best acceleration for a vehicle in its class, the Perve Premium also promises a commendable fuel consumption of 6.6 litres per 100km.

All Preve variants are equipped with anti-lock braking system with electronic brakeforce distribution, dual front airbags, active headrests, anti-trap driver power window and LED daytime running lights.

The Preve Premium variant gets additional equipment such as front side airbags, push start button, electronic stability control, traction control, cruise control and rear spoiler.

Another unique feature of the car is that it is 4G enabled, courtesy of Proton’s collaboration with YES 4G.

With a service interval of every 10,000km for a lower cost of ownership, the Preve is available in six colour choices of Blue Lagoon, Fire Red, Tranquility Black, Solid White, Genetic Silver and Elegant Brown.

-Star motoring
Tengku Mahaleel
KUALA LUMPUR: Proton Holdings Bhd has everything to become profitable and successful if DRB-Hicom Bhd takes the right business decisions, former chief of the national car maker, Tengku Mahaleel Tengku Ariff, said.

He said placing the right person to lead the company will be very important to drive Proton back to glory.

Any business can be transformed in a positive or negative manner, depending on decisions taken by the management, Tengku Mahaleel, who spent eight years as Proton’s CEO, told Bernama in an interview.

“In any business it is very fundamental that you put the right guy in the right place.

“Look at Tony Fernandes, how he brought AirAsia to glory and Celcom. It is all about people. Companies never compete against each other.

“It is only human beings who compete. In that case, we need good and suitable brains to face the competition out there,” he said.

Tengku Mahaleel said it is now up to DRB-Hicom to decide on the most suitable person to run the company.

In January, state asset manager Khazanah Nasional Bhd announced the sale of its 42.74% stake in Proton to DRB-Hicom for RM1.291 billion.

The sale was concluded in March and DRB-Hicom appointed its managing director Mohd Khamil Jamil as Proton executive chairman and executive director, replacing Nadzmi Salleh, who tendered his resignation days after the completion of the deal.

Late last month, the national auto maker announced that Syed Zainal Abidin Syed Mohamed Tahir and Azhar Othman have opted to resign as group CEO, and chief financial officer, respectively, in July this year.

It is widely believed that DRB-Hicom chief operating officer Lukman Ibrahim is poised to take over from Syed Zainal.

Asked on the capability of DRB-Hicom to drive Proton to future glory, Tengku Mahaleel said: “I cannot comment on DRB-Hicom or the decisions that they have taken because I have never worked with them. I am not sure what their business style is.”

In a related development, he said the global car industry is very fluid with many drivers of change, adding the industry is playing in the upper segment, comprising people who can buy cars.

“But that market is only 600 million people globally. On the flip side, people without cars is about two billion people.

“That is why Tata Motors in India came out with Tata Nano cars. It is affordable. Proton can also look into this area,” he said.

Tengku Mahaleel joined Proton in 1996 as vice-president of strategy and operations, and was later promoted to CEO of Proton Holdings in April 1997.

He held the position until September 2005.

- Bernama
In the six odd years that Datuk Seri Syed Zainal Abidin has been at the helm of the national car company Proton, he’s definitely gained quite a number of fans, who not only admire his work in having led Proton to produce better and better models with each launch, but his inspiring public speeches as well. Just for nostalgia sake, we’ve dug up our archive video of the Proton Exora launch.


We’ve also got a hold of an email that he’s sent out to all Proton staff, announcing that yesterday was his physical last day at Proton, after you exclude leave days from his last day, which is July 4, 2012.

The original Bahasa Malaysia version will of course hold the original message that Syed Zainal intended to deliver, but if you want an English translation, Proton Edar Dealers Association president Armin Baniaz Pahamin has a translation on his blog.

Assalamualaikum, Salam Sejahtera dan Salam 1 Malaysia pada seluruh warga PROTON yang saya kasihi.

Semoga warkah saya ini bertemu saudara saudari dalam keadaan sihat sejahtera, ceria dan bersemangat tinggi dalam menjalankan tugas-tugas harian.
Seperti yang semua sedia maklum, saya telah pun melepaskan jawatan saya sebagai Pengarah Urusan Kumpulan PROTON berkuatkuasa 4hb Julai, 2012. Dengan mengambil kira cuti yang saya perlu habiskan, hari ini yakni Khamis 31hb Mei, 2012 adalah merupakan hari terakhir saya berada di PROTON secara fizikal.

Saudara saudari yang saya kasihi,

Terlalu berat untuk saya menulis surat ini sebagai penutup tirai kepada lebih enam (6) tahun perkhidmatan saya di PROTON.  Berhari-hari saya mengadap skrin komputer yang kosong kerana ternyata tidak ada perkataan yang dapat menterjemahkan apa yang ada di lubuk hati saya.  Bagaimana mungkin dapat saya melepas perginya sesuatu yang telah memberi impak yang dalam dan bermakna kepada kehidupan saya?  Bagaimana mungkin dapat saya berjabat tangan dan mengucapkan selamat tinggal pada rakan-rakan yang sudah saya anggap sebagai ahli keluarga sendiri? Tiada ucapan yang dapat saya ungkapkan untuk mengucapkan ribuan terima kasih saya kepada setiap individu yang telah berusaha bersungguh-sungguh dalam membantu saya menjalankan tugas saya sekian lama. Tiada mampu dalam diri saya yang kerdil ini untuk membalas pengorbanan, kegigihan dan masa yang telah di curahkan oleh semua pihak dalam usaha  merealisasikan impian PROTON tanpa mengenal lelah dan jemu.

Saudara saudari yang saya kasihi,

Apabila saya imbas kembali detik-detik perjalanan saya di PROTON, saya menganggap sayalah yang sebenarnya beruntung.  Saya beruntung kerana dapat menerajui sekumpulan tenaga pekerja yang saya anggap permata-permata yang amat bernilai. Saya bersyukur kerana dipertemukan dengan sekumpulan warga Malaysia yang kental semangatnya. Tatkala masyarakat umum memberi persepsi negatif pada PROTON, saudara saudari masih bangun dinihari untuk ke kilang dengan penuh rasa bangga. Tatkala kita ditertawakan atas kesilapan lalu, saudara saudari menerima kritikan dengan sikap terbuka. Tatkala kita berada di bawah, saudara saudari bangkit dan menyahut cabaran perubahan.  Semangat saudara saudari lah yang membakar semangat saya untuk terus berjuang memulihkan PROTON.  Kematangan saudara saudari jualah yang telah mematangkan diri saya untuk berani mengambil pendekatan baru demi melonjakkan nama PROTON.  Saya yakin berdiri di atas pentas kerana saya berdiri di atas keyakinan saudara saudari.  Ternyata hari ini, saya lah yang kehilangan sesuatu yang besar nilainya.  Bukan saudara saudari.

Saudara saudari yang saya kasihi,

Saya yakin saudara saudari akan meneruskan perjuangan ini dan mampu membawa nama PROTON ke tahap yang lebih tinggi.  Saya percaya saudara saudari akan terus memberikan sokongan yang mampan walau dalam apa jua keadaan sekali pun.  Segalanya tidak mustahil jika kita tanam keyakinan yang tinggi pada setiap sesuatu.  Di mana ada kemahuan, disitu pasti ada jalan,  Saya telah melihat kehebatan saudara saudari, jadi saya menyeru agar di teruskan kegigihan ini. Percayalah pada diri sendiri, kejayaan pasti memihak kepada saudara saudari dengan izinNya. Saya yakin dengan suntikan dan anjakan paradigma pengurusan baru, di bawah pimpinan YBhg Dato Sri Hj Mohd Khamil Jamil, PROTON akan terus meraih namanya di persada automotif, insyaallah.

Saudara saudari yang saya kasihi,

Sebagai manusia yang dhaif dan lemah dalam pelbagai aspek, saya menyusun sepuluh jari memohon kemaafan dari setiap warga PROTON atas segala keterlanjuran bahasa, tingkahlaku, makan minum, hak-hak saudara saudari yang tidak dapat saya sempurnakan sepanjang perkhidmatan saya di PROTON.  Saya pasti terdapat banyak kekhilafan dan serba kekurangan dalam pentadbiran dan pengurusan saya,  Yang baik itu datang dariNya, yang buruk itu adalah kelemahan saya sendiri.  Saya mohon juga disampaikan kemaafan dan salam saya pada keluarga saudara saudari sekelian. Walaupun saya mungkin tidak berkesempatan bertemu dengan mereka, doa saya akan sentiasa mengiringi mereka.

Hukum alam menetapkan, setiap yang bermula pasti akan berakhir.  Setiap pertemuan, pasti ada perpisahan. Walapun jauh dimata, PROTON akan tetap di hati saya.  Saya akan sematkan ingatan dan pengalaman berharga ini jauh di lubuk hati saya.  Semuga takdir mempertemukan kita semula dilain tempat, dilain masa, insyaallah.

Akhir kata, saya memetik lirik dari nyanyian Faith Hill dari lakun layar Pearl Harbour  dan kata-kata ini saya tujukan khas kepada semua warga kerja PROTON.

“There You’ll Be”
When I think back
On these times
And the dreams
We left behind
I’ll be glad ’cause
I was blessed to get
To have you in my life
When I look back
On these days
I’ll look and see your face
You were right there for me
In my dreams
I’ll always see you soar
Above the sky
In my heart
There will always be a place
For you for all my life
I’ll keep a part
Of you with me
And everywhere I am
There you’ll be
And everywhere I am
There you’ll be
Well you showed me
How it feels
To feel the sky
Within my reach
And I always
Will remember all
The strength you
Gave to me
Your love made me
Make it through
Oh, I owe so much to you
You were right there for me
‘Cause I always saw in you
My light, my strength
And I want to thank you
Now for all the ways
You were right there for me
You were right there for me
For always

Salam hormat dari saya,
Syed Zainal
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