Originally conceived by Malaysia's Prime Minister of the day, Dato Seri Dr Mahathir Mohamad, PROTON Bhd was incorporated on 7 th May 1983 with the aim of building a national car. Two years later, On 9 th July 1985 the Proton Saga (MPI) was officially launched. It was Malaysia's first domestically produced car and is still sold in Malaysia and other countries today.
The company has come a long way since then and Proton cars have been exported to more than 50 countries worldwide. Key export markets today include the UK, Australia, Singapore and the Far East.
PROTON was publicly listed on the Kuala Lumpur Stock Exchange in 1992.
The original plant, covering 99,400 sq m, is situated at Shah Alam near Kuala Lumpur in central Malaysia. The site also houses an engine and transmission factory, a castings plant, R&D centre and a semi-high speed test track. Impian is manufactured at a medium volume factory on the same site. The Shah Alam factory is currently producing 240,000 units per annum.
A new modular state-of-the-art assembly plant has been constructed at Tanjung Malim, 60 miles north of Kuala Lumpur. This area has been named Proton City and consists of a 500 hectare site containing the new factory, plant, housing, a university and other commercial buildings to accommodate component suppliers. Opened in 2005, the new plant produces the three newest model ranges, GEN-2, Savvy and Satria Neo.
PROTON's total workforce in Malaysia totals just over 6,000 personnel working in all areas of vehicle design, R&D, production and manufacturing. With a solid base built up since 1983, Malaysia's car manufacturing industry is progressing rapidly.
PROTON took a major step forward in upgrading its engineering capabilities when it acquired a share in Lotus Group International in October 1996. This stake was increased to 100% in 2003. Since the acquisition, personnel from Lotus are closely involved in PROTON's new model development, with a team of engineers permanently based at the design and development centre in Malaysia.
The current model range in Malaysia now consists of Waja (Impian in the UK), Satria, Wira, Iswara (MPI in the UK), Arena (Jumbuck), Perdana, Juara, GEN-2, Savvy and the recently launched Satria Neo.
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