They used to be common sight on UK roads
A long-forgotten car maker is set to start selling vehicles in the the UK again after a decade-long absence.
The manufacturer is set to release a selection of cars back into British showrooms which includes an SUV and EV option.
The carmaker is a Malaysian company known as Proton, and even if you can’t remember them, you’ve definitively seen them as they sold 140,000 cars in the UK between 1989 and its eventual removal from the market.
The brand’s unique selling point at the time was their range of affordable small cars, specialising in the type before well-known rivals Smart Car hit the market 10 years later.
The company started from humble beginnings in 1983 selling rebadged Mitsubishis after being set up by the Malaysian Government.
It began fabricating its own cars in 2000.
Although Proton have long been absent from the European market, the carmaker never stopped selling in Asia, remaining popular in the region.
The company even has its own town dedicated to the production of its cars in Malaysia known as Proton City where 2000 workers live.
Proton were forced to pull out the UK in 2014 after financial difficulties leading to the owners being forced to sell half the company to Chinese car moguls Geely.
As well as making their own cars, Geely have a portfolio containing brands such as Volvo, Polestar and Lotus.
Geely have invested £7.9 billion into Proton in an effort to fuel international expansion as per reports from Autocar.
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The manufacturer has laid foundations to expand their Proton City production base to increase production up to 500,000 units per year with half of these intended for export.
The UK will not be the only country seeing the return of the Proton with South Africa, Australia and New Zealand earmarked for its reintroduction.
Directors at Proton hope international success will bring greater security to the business in the long run.
A source told Autocar: “With the investments in place, Proton will have the means to return to markets it departed, while also entering new markets.”
Proton currently offer a four different models all based on Geely products, renamed as the X50, X70, X90 and S70.
Meanwhile the company still own the rights to rebadge three Mitsubishi-based motors known as the Saga, Person and Iriz.
One of Proton’s potential flagship offerings could be its range of electric vehicles named under the e:MAS moniker.
This includes an SUV with four wheel drive known as the e:MAS 7 SUV which is mostly inspired by the Geely Galaxy E5 which hit the streets in May this year.
The alleged key difference between the E5 and the 7 SUV is that the latter was developed by Proton and Geely using “aintelligent AI architecture”.
So keep a look out, you might just start noticing some unfamiliar cars in your local neighbourhoods.
