Syed Zainal said that the new model will be produced through its Shah Alam manufacturing plant where all the preparations have been finalized and that they are planning to launch it before the year ends. They are currently finalizing the deals with the other OEM (Original Equipment Manufacturers). Speculations have been going around that the Waja Replacement Model will mirror that of the Mitsubishi Lancer GT which comes with a 2.0 liter engine but the Proton version will come with a 1.8 liter engine.
Syed Zainal was telling reporters about the new model during the launch of the minor face-lifted model of the hugely popular MPV (Multi purpose vehicle), Proton Exora where he said that the company believe that the new Exora version will help to boost the sales of the MPV from its 2,300 units per month to 2,500 units. If that is achieved, it will surpass Proton’s target of rolling out 28,690 units for the current 2010/2011 financial year for the MPV.
So far, some 33,000 units of the Proton Exora has been delivered. Proton launched the MPV after much anticipation last April and has received extremely good response both locally and regionally. Syed Zainal also reported that up until June 30, there have been almost 42,916 bookings for the Exora and that plans are in place to launch the 1.6 Campro CPS Exora in oversea markets.
The new face-lifted Exora is priced RM1,000 more than the current stock model and comes in 3 variants which are the base line version which is priced at RM58,998 for the manual transmission version while the medium line manual version is priced at RM65,998 and the top ranged high-line automatic version is priced at RM76,998. Proton had also last week launched their 25 units only Proton Exora 25th anniversary limited edition where there would only be 25 units available.
