PM Launches Proton Juara at KLCC
Proton’s eighth model line, the Juara, was officially launched yesterday by the Prime Minister at the KL City Centre Esplanade. The launch ceremony, witnessed by thousands of Malaysians, was a highly-charged event with live displays of wushu and also by the National Artistic Gymnastics Team. As mentioned in our report earlier in the week, the event’s theme would pay tribute to sports champions and indeed, the two most recent sports champions – body-builder Sazali Samad and master bowler Shalin Zulkifli – were specially honoured. Proton also paid tribute to 28 of its staff who were involved in the Juara project, internally coded ‘RGW’.
The moment which everyone was waiting for – the unveiling of the new model – occurred around noon when the PM fired a starter’s gun and as the sound of the shot echoed around the Petronas Twin Towers, balloons covering the six Juaras were released to unveil them. The culmination of the event saw the Mighty Man of Malaysia, R. Letchemanah, pulling a yellow Juara – the mini-MPV weighs 1,335 kgs – across 50 metres with a female on board. He was congratulated for his feat by the PM and members of Proton’s top management.
Following the feat, three more Juaras drove up, each equipped with accessories suggesting a different lifestyle, typically one which would be active, eg camping and mountain-biking. The camper version had roof-mounted spotlights and a prominent bash-plate under the front end.
When the barriers were dropped, members of the public rushed up to the Juaras to take a closer look and were also able to get more information from Proton Edar staff. The vehicle will also be on display at Proton Edar (and Proton Edar dealers) showrooms which will open till midnight this weekend.
At a press conference later, Proton CEO Tengku Tan Sri (Dr) Mahaleel Tengku Ariff explained that only Proton Edar would be selling the Juara as it was the only one of the two distributors that had signed the Distributorship Agreement (DA) with Proton. The DA has been the subject of controversy in the past year and Proton and EON have been trying to resolve certain issues, particularly concerning Proton’s requirement that distributors contribute a substantial sum to R&D costs. Believed to be dead-locked at one time, insiders told AUTOWORLD.COM.MY that the discussions have seen ‘some progress forward in the past week’.
In any case, giving the Juara to Proton Edar exclusively probably makes sense as the company, previously USPD, has not had a low-priced entry-level model since production of the Tiara hatchback ended last year. EON, on its part, has a fairly broad range of models at this time and perhaps does not require an additional model to push.
The introduction of the Juara by Proton also raises an interesting question about the competition between two national carmakers in the same segment. It is believed that while there exists an ‘understanding’ between Proton and Perodua that Proton will make products above 1000 cc and Perodua will develop products below 1000 cc, the agreement is confined to sedan models. And as the Juara is not a sedan, it is okay for Proton to make it (and as a Proton executive pointed out, it is actually 1100 cc).
Whether the Juara does grab sales from the Perodua Kenari remains to be seen but according to the CEO of Proton Edar, Maruan Mohd Said, between 5,000 to 6,000 units are forecast to be sold during 2001. The retail price is RM49,203.62 (with insurance) and only a 4-speed automatic transmission is available.
