Proton May Not Make Waja TurboDiesel

It seems that the turbodiesel variant of the Proton Waja may not be put into production due to sales forecasts that are deemed commercially unacceptable. This latest development was mentioned by Yusri Yusuf, a member of Proton’s R&D department, during his briefing to the Malaysian media today.

The Waja turbodiesel was to have used a new-generation engine from Renault, one of the two engines Proton said it is taking from the French manufacturer. Though diesel cars are not popular among private motorists in Malaysia, they are widely sold in Europe and Proton, like many other manufacturers, would have wanted to ensure that it is represented in that segment as well.

But with 50,000 units annual production capacity for the Waja, the cancellation of the turbodiesel variant is perhaps not a serious issue as it will undoubtedly face high demand for the petrol-engined models which will include a 1.8-litre variant using an engine from Renault.

Encik Yusri said that the 1.8-litre engine is now being fine-tuned and scheduled for introduction by the end of the year or early 2001. “Apart from the engine tuning, we also have to run another series of safety tests because the 1.8-litre engine is heavier so confirmation is needed that the standards are met,” he revealed.

During the briefing, he also explained that the 4G18 1.6-litre engine is an evolutionary development of the 4G15 1.5-litre engine in the Wira. Apart from an increase in capacity and the redesign of the cylinder head to have 16 valves (but still a single overhead camshaft), the position of the transmission was also shifted from the right side (looking forward from inside the car) to the left side of the engine. This change ensures commonality with the other engines that will go into the Waja in future.

Clarifying the remark that the 4G18 engine is 10% more powerful than the Wira’s 1.6-litre engine, he said that this comparison was on the basis of both engines being tuned to Euro-2 emission control standards. However, at present, the engines installed in Malaysian Wiras are not tuned to Euro-2 and are still at Euro-1. While they are not developing 88 kW – which was the maximum output when the Wira was introduced in 1993 – they are now around 83 kW which means that, on paper, the Malaysian Wira engine is actually 9.2% more powerful than the Waja engine. Of course, this will be a non-issue by next year as the government will require new cars to also meet the Euro-2 standard.

Due to the tuning for low-end torque, Proton engineers are confident that the Waja, though less powerful on paper, will still out-perform the Wira.