A reader name KING from PaulTan took photos of a Proton MPV testing near Penang Island. This photo of a camouflage Proton MPV is crucial as it confirms how it's gonna look like.The Proton MPV is the nation's first foray into this segment, since the introduction of the Honda Stream back in early 2001, the nation had seen a sudden surge in demand for 7 seaters that are affordable and simple, unlike previous MPVs which actually means Multi Purpose Vehicles, with seats that reclined or could completely go missing underneath the floorplan, with trays folding out for lunch or office work, able to haul plenty of stuffs or fetch plenty of people or simply as a shagmobile etc. These so-called MPVs that caught up in popularity in Malaysia - (Traditionally the largest sedan market in ASEAN, ranking only behind China, Japan, Korea in terms of Asia) had only one major purpose, is to fetch aplenty; other than fetching people, most had no alterations of purpose, some doesn't even come with second or third row of air condition vents which practically makes them OPVs or One Purpose Vehicle or SPV (you get my drift)
Thou popular, it's highly competitive now, with the lowest end dominated by the Toyota Avanza, the greatest 'rip-off' a car could be, using a Toyota Hilux platform, they remove the 4WD system by taking off the axle that sends power back to the front wheels, so its now a RWD OPV with a 1.5ltr engine with rather poor build quality. then higher up, we have the Nissan Livina, another SPV that was based on the Latio, which now had better vehicle dynamics as the Latio is a perfectly nice and sweet little (no, it's quite large actually) hatchback. With a sedan body, a lower ride height, the Livina comes with very good handling and ride dynamics.
Build quality wise, it's not very difficult for current levels of Proton fit and finish to take on the Toyota Avanza, the real competitors will be the likes of Nissan's Livina and KIA's Rondo, which in terms of fit and finish and amenities, engine choice all sum up, is really the class leader underneath RM100,000 (divide by 3.5 for USD). However as always, the Proton MPV will easily undercut both with price, specs and dimension alone, the Proton MPV will be larger than the Honda Stream, with a higher ceiling (to ease the Malay and Sikh ethnicity's wearing of a 'Songkok' or a Turban). In terms of engine choices, it would most definitely come with the 1.6 CPS currently available in the Waja and Gen2, but we do hope it'll come with Perdana's 2.0 V6 as well. We're practically sold if it comes with a sunroof, integrated DVD and Sat Nav (Luxury amenities in this part of the world) and remain below RM70,000, moving further up touching RM85,000 for the higher spec.
You can see from the comparison picture above that the front fender where the lines were extended from the window line all the way to the headlamps can be witnessed on the spied MPV, and the door handles, windows and wheel arches all confirmed with the clay model photos that was leaked earlier on.
The rear reflector can be seen camouflage, but the location, the curvature of the bumper, even the portion where the rear clusters seemed to confirm what the clay model shows, with the indicators taking up a large portion, then the rear lamps followed by reverse indicators. The wiper however, appeared to have switch direction, which is of no issue as the one on the clay model was just a mock up and appears too tiny for that large rear windscreen.
You can also see here that the roof spoiler seen on the clay model can be seen on the spy photo, whereas the unique slanting design of the rear windscreen was hidden by camouflage where our simple MS paint skills reveals the original line indicated by the rear wiper. However the number plate placement seems to have moved from the hatch to the bumper, which we have no qualms about.
