Will Proton challenge Toyota and Honda in the hybrid space?

By now, most of you might have read a number of click-bait articles that mention the arrival of a plug-in hybrid crossover and sedan from Proton which happens to be a rebadged Geely Auto produced and engineered vehicle. 

Well, it is easy for anyone with internet access to assume that Chinese Automotive Group Geely Auto might be rebadging their new hybrid and crossover sedan for the Malaysian market using Proton badging since the arrival of the X70 SUV and more recently the X50 crossover. 

When Geely agreed to purchase 49.9 percent of Proton, they had no right-hand drive model ready for Malaysian sale. Also, ASEAN countries were all right-hand drive. At the time, the X70 was already developed and selling for a couple of years in China and also the Middle East which is also a left-hand drive market.

With Proton’s partnership, the development of the right-hand drive X70 and later on the X50 made it easy for market release in other right-hand-drive markets.

Now with hybrid models, like the Geely Bo Rui GE which comes with a 1.5-litre turbocharged engine working with a plug-in hybrid system for great fuel economy or a mild hybrid system for better fuel efficiency, it will take their engineering and testing department more time to develop a right-hand-drive version as the ‘mating’ of the battery-electric system to the petrol engine needs to re-developed.

Also, the right-hand-drive version will need proper field testing to ensure no long term issues (during the given 5-year factory warranty in Malaysia) in our humidity and heat.

The Geely Bo Rui GE is jointly developed with Volvo Cars and so it carries a very similar powertrain as to the Volvo XC40 Recharge which arrived in Malaysia in February 2021.

With the recent Malaysian government tax incentives for electric vehicles, it makes more sense for Geely Auto and Proton to look ahead and think about launching a fully electric vehicle as in recent years, plug-in hybrids and mild hybrid vehicles have seen a number of running and maintenance issues. Add to the fact that the tax incentive is not as attractive for a long term business case for Proton.

This is why Geely Auto has for the past few months been working to get a fully electric vehicle ready for Malaysian launch. With the Malaysian government's blessing’ and the fact that Geely’s partner in Proton, DRB-Hicom is setting up an ‘electric vehicle hub’ in Tanjung Malim, the arrival of a fully electric sedan will be sooner than expected.

Sharing its powertrain technology with the Geometry A PRO sedan (Geometry is a sub-brand electric car from Geely Auto), this futuristic sedan is targeted to be a full electric PREVE or even Perdana sedan. With two battery size options, the ‘430’ and ‘600’, this is also the driving range of each version, 430 kilometers or 600 kilometers based on their internal field test NEDC range.

In July 2021, the left-hand drive version was launched for sales in China only and for 2022 it is expected to be introduced in the left-hand drive Philippines where Geely Auto is already seeing good demand for its petrol-powered SUV and Crossover.

The right-hand-drive version of the Geometry A PRO sedan is currently being field-tested and rumors have it that its arrival in Proton showrooms as their first electric sedan will be in early 2023. The arrival of this electric sedan will spur the arrival of the next generation Proton X50 in the coming year which will also be fully electric as it shares its platform and engineering with the Volvo XC40 electric. 

 Pricing in China for the 600 km range model is around RM 120,000 before shipping and after-sales cost. We estimate the selling price in Malaysia to be between RM 130k to RM 138k.

Proton and Geely Auto will be conservative with the number of electric vehicles it will bring to market in the next 2 to 5 years as the building of battery-charging infrastructure and the education of users of the high voltage battery system needs to be in place as this will be a mass brand EV. 

Also read: Is there a new Proton Saga coming to showrooms?