Last year, Proton created a special edition of the Saga to commemorate the 35th anniversary Malaysia’s first national car. Only 1,100 units of the Saga Anniversary Edition were available – and every single one was taken up within just 5 days.

Now, the Malaysian carmaker is offering more choices with its latest Special Editions, all of which follow the black theme of the Saga Anniversary Edition. The models are the Persona and Exora as well as the Iriz and Saga. The Persona and Exora are Black Editions while the Iriz and Saga are R3 Limited Editions. R3 (Race, Rally & Research) is the performance arm of Proton which has been developing competition models and participated in international rallies as well as circuit events with many successes.

The prices of the Special Editions and units available are as follow:
Proton Saga R3 Limited Edition (2,000 units): RM42,300
Proton Iriz R3 Limited Edition (500 units): RM52,900
Proton Persona Black Edition (500 units): RM54,700
Proton Exora Black Edition (500 units): RM67,800

These prices are for private registration in Peninsular Malaysia and do not include insurance. Sales tax is also not included but will be added if the purchase is made after June 30, 2021 when the exemption is set to expire. However, it is likely that all units will be sold out by then as there will be many who will certainly want to own one of these limited production editions that can be collectors’ items in future.

“By launching four Special Edition models today, Proton is giving its customers more choices. These are products manufactured in Malaysia targeted to Malaysian car buyers and are reminders that Proton is and always will be a ‘full-service’ car manufacturer with the ability to design, develop and build our own cars from a clean sheet of paper,” said Roslan Abdullah, CEO of Proton Edar.

PROTON SAGA R3 LIMITED EDITION
The Saga R3 Limited Edition has similarities to the earlier Anniversary Edition with its overall black finish and black elements with yellow striping for highlights. The door mirror covers are in yellow, which seems rather jarring and some might prefer if they were also black.

Unlike the Anniversary edition, this R3 Limited Edition has a strong association with R3 through the decals around the bodywork. The alloy wheels have an ‘open’ design and are 15 inches in diameter, wrapped with tyres of 185/55 size.

In the cabin, the black theme is to be expected as well with seat upholstery in leatherette that has ‘R3 Limited Edition’ stitched on the upper section of the front seat backrests. Like the exterior, yellow striping is used on various styling elements on the dashboard and other trim panels, as well as the carpets.

This being a Special Edition, Proton has made sure it is also equipped to the highest level and owners get items like switches on the steering wheel, a touchscreen display for the infotainment system which also shows the imagery from the reverse camera.

Though it has R3 in its name, the car does not have any special performance enhancements to add speed or  give stronger acceleration. The engine is the same 1.3-litre unit as other Sagas and the good thing is that it uses a 4-speed torque converter unit that gives more pleasurable motoring than the CVT used before.

PROTON IRIZ R3 LIMITED EDITION
The Iriz R3 Limited Edition takes the same approach as the Saga R3 Limited Edition with the dominant black bodywork and certain elements highlighted in yellow. It does get an injection of sportiness – visually – with the R3 bodykit as standard, 16-inch wheels and of course, the requisite R3 decals.

Under the bonnet is a 1.6-litre engine while inside, the cabin  too has the same black and yellow theme. It’s what you would expect of a Special Edition where the manufacturer gives cosmetic enhancements but skirts anything which would require engineering time and money. That would be necessary to raise the performance levels but given the volume, it won’t be justified. Better to just let R3 do some business selling performance parts and providing their tuning expertise to owners.

PROTON PERSONA BLACK EDITION
The Persona is a pretty popular sedan in the B-segment so there are many on the road. For those who want their Persona to stand out, Proton offers the Black Edition to just 500 people. The bold black appearance will already draw attention and to highlight styling elements, gold striping is applied. It’s an approach that strengthens the car’s presence in a subtle way.

Inside too, areas like the centre console between the seats, trim panels, vents and certain knobs gets the gold treatment. The front seats have leather-like upholstery but do not have any special stitching. Still, the all-black ambience is something which has its own appeal.

The Persona infotainment system has ‘intelligence’ and responds to the ‘Hi Proton’ command. It’s not as sophisticated as what you get in the X70 (where you can have the windows opened just by asking) and is limited to managing music and navigation, and getting weather forecasts.

The powertrain is the proven 1.6 litre unit with VVT and a CVT to get the 107 ps/150 Nm to the front wheels.

PROTON EXORA BLACK EDITION
The Exora MPV is now 11 years old and is still popular among those who need a people-mover. While it is somewhat old, it is also a proven MPV and whatever bugs there were would have been ironed out already.

The Black Edition gets the same sort of treatment as the other models with the Quartz Black finish being the body colour, and gold accent lines flowing around. Already big, the black effect gives the MPV a stronger image like a SWAT vehicle. The black treatment is also used throughout the cabin and gold striping added in certain areas. Incidentally, Proton did offer black as a colour choice in the years prior to 2017.

The Exora is powered by a 1.6-litre CAMPRO CFE engine with turbocharging which boosts output to 140 ps/205 Nm. Power goes to the front wheels through a CVT.

Like the Persona, the Exora was also upgraded with the GKUI developed by Geely when the Chinese carmaker came into the picture. This is an intelligent interface which is activated by the words ‘Hi Proton’, allowing the driver to manage certain functions without having to reach for knobs or switches or touch the screen (though there is also a touchscreen).

As with all new Protons sold today, the Special Editions come with a Basic Warranty of 5 years or the first 150,000 kms. Bookings are accepted at all authorised Proton outlets from today and to locate one, visit www.proton.com.