PROTON is launching their first SUV in Malaysia very soon and this is the first product that’s co-developed by Geely and PROTON. During the exclusive preview to the media, it was revealed that the SUV will be called the PROTON X70 and it’s open for booking starting tomorrow.
To be among the first to own the PROTON X70, you can place a deposit of RM1,000 beginning 8 September 2018. To see the vehicle up close, PROTON will be organising preview sessions for the public between 19 September until 4 November 2018 across 7 cities throughout Malaysia which include Kuching and Kota Kinabalu.
The X70 name was selected from a total of 89,800 submissions through an online contest. This is the first alphanumeric naming system used on a PROTON model. According to their research, this would allow them to sell the X70 in ASEAN as well as international markets without language barriers to overcome. The letter X is synonyous Crossover or SUV while the number 70 denotes the type of class or size (bigger means larger).
The PROTON X70 is based on the Geely Boyue (pictured above) which is also known as the Geely Emgrand X7 in other markets. The design team had made some changes to the exterior in order to differenciate the X70 from Geely’s model.
The front grill will get a different design featuring a large PROTON badge that’s framed with 3 black horizontal bars. There’s also daytime running lights (DRL) which gives it a “pair of eyes” that mimics the face of a Malayan Tiger. Meanwhile, the interior gets premium materials such as Nappa leather and brushed aluminium accents, and there’s also a touchscreen interface on the dashboard.
The PROTON X70 is expected to be available sometime in November and it will be priced below the Honda CR-V. The CR-V is currently priced from RM138,308 for the base 2.0L 2WD variant and it goes all the way up to RM163,191 for its range topping 1.5L TC-P 2WD model.
The official specifications and features have not been announced but you can expect three trim levels: Standard, Premium and Executive.
Standard will come in 2WD only while the Premium and Executive variants get 2WD and AWD options. There will be only one engine option across all trim levels, a turbo GDI engine producing 181hp and 285Nm of torque. The engine power figures are nothing to shout home about when you consider manufacturers can easily and reliably push out 200+ hp from a 1.6 turbo-charged engine. For comparison, the X70’s close competitor, the Honda CR-V 1.5 turbo pushes 190hp and 243Nm of torque.
Expect a whole host of driver-aid technologies to be available, at the very least in the Executive and Premium trim of the X70. These include automatic emergency braking, adaptive cruise control, 360-camera, blind spot monitor and possibly lane-departure warning and avoidance plus a tyre pressure monitoring system.
From the models what were presented to us during the session today, we can see the top-spec Premium version gets a built-in air purification system and a multi-speaker sound system complete with sub-woofer.
Related Post: The PROTON X70 raises a few questions.
