Proton X50 Preview: 5 things you need to know

The Proton X50 is finally revealed during a media preview at Proton’s plant in Tanjung Malim. The full spec sheet, pricing and availability details have not been revealed yet but here’s what we know about the X50 at the moment.

4 variants and 6 colour options

The Proton X50 will be available in 4 variants – 1.5T Standard, 1.5T Executive, 1.5T Premium and 1.5 TGDi Flagship. The base model comes with 17″ alloy wheels and 4 SRS Airbags. From the Executive variant onwards, you get 6 SRS Airbags as standard with front fog lamps, leather seats and leather wrap steering wheel.

The top flagship model has all the bells and whistles including the Advanced Driver Assistance System, dual-tone exterior and Panoramic sunroof. You also get 18″ alloy wheels for the Premium and Flagship variants.

Proton is offering a total of 6 colours – Snow White, Armour Silver, Jet Grey, Ocean Blue, Citric Orange and Passion Red.

2 engine options

As illustrated above, only the Proton X50 Flagship variant gets the 1.5L TGDi engine with high output. This is likely to be the same 3-cylinder turbo engine as the left-hand-drive Geely Binyue that pushes 177hp and 255Nm of torque.

For the Standard, Executive and Premium trim, it’s still a 1.5L 3-cylinder turbo engine but it pushes a lower power output. Unfortunately, Proton hasn’t provided much info on the engines but it is definitely sourced from Geely. All 4 variants are paired with a 7-speed DCT which is similar to the Proton X70 2020.

10.25″ touch-screen head unit for premium models

The Proton X50 uses a new floating style infortainment system. It runs on an E01 quad-core processor which claims to be more powerful and responsive than the unit that’s found on the Proton X70.

For the Premium and Flagship models, it comes with a larger 10.25″ touch screen display that pushes 1920×720 pixels resolution. However, if you go for the more affordable Standard & Executive models, you’ll get a smaller 8″ screen that pushes a resolution of 1024×600. Both supports 4G LTE connectivity but the 10.25″ variants offer more features that you can access from its mobile app.

The head unit still runs on GKUI and you don’t get Apple CarPlay or Android Auto. Instead of Baidu maps, Proton says there’s a new A-Map pre-installed and you can also stream music via the native JOOX app.

Extra features

According to Proton, the X50 has a better Advanced Driver Assistance System (ADAS) with Level 2 autonomous driving features. They didn’t provide the full breakdown but you can expect Autonomous Emergency Braking, Adaptive Cruise Control, Lane Keep Assist and self parking assistance.

The Proton X50 also supports remote engine start via the key fob and you can also do so via your smartphone. With the mobile app, you can even make adjustments to the aircon remotely as long as your phone and car are connected to the internet. However, the remote feature via smartphone is likely offered only on the Premium and Flagship variant.

In addition, the Proton X50 also gets rear aircon vents as standard across all variants which is great for Malaysian weather. For greater convenience, there are also two USB charging ports at the rear. These extra add-ons were not offered in the left-hand-drive model of the Geely Binyue in China and that version comes only with a single USB charging port.

Booking and public preview

If you’re interested, you can secure a unit by placing a booking fee of RM500 starting tomorrow, 16th September 2020. To check out the car yourself, Proton is organising a City Preview at various locations starting from 19th September 2020. We expect Proton to share more details of the preview via their social channels in the next couple of days.

Photo Gallery

Related reading