Proton Satria Neo officially on sale in Japan
Proton Motorsports and Japanese automotive parts manufacturer Carrosser Co. Ltd (Cusco) has announced that the Proton Satria Neo will officially be on sale in Japan for motorsports use by enthusiasts and rally teams. The announcement was made at the 2012 Tokyo Auto Salon where the Neo was put on display.
This development is the result of a collaboration between Proton Motorsports and Cusco to produce the Group N 1,600cc Proton Satria Neo rally cars first displayed in last year’s Tokyo Auto Salon. Developed for the Japanese domestic market, the Cusco-engineered Neo rally cars will be sold to competitors in the Junior Rally Championships in Japan and Asia Pacific.
“The introduction of the Satria Neo in the Japanese market will enable Proton to cater to enthusiasts and rally teams competing in the niche motorsports market,” said Datuk Abdul Razak Dawood, the head of Proton Motorsports.
The Satria Neo’s credentials are well-tested in battle, with Cusco Group N cars making a clean sweep of the 2WD categories in last year’s Asia Pacific Rally Championship. Proton won the APRC 2WD Manufacturer’s title, the APRC 2WD driver’s title with Malaysia’s Karamjit Singh, and the APRC Junior Driver’s title with Japanese driver Akira Bamba. Meanwhile, in the Japan Rally, Shuhei Muta also drove the Satria Neo to win the JN3 Class champion.
Carrosser President Tsutomu Nagase said the collaboration with Proton Motorsports was in line with efforts to reinvigorate the Japanese motorsport industry. He said that “The honorable accomplishments of the Satria Neo in competition proved the great potential and high performance aspects of Proton machines which can be applied anywhere in the world.”
“The main objective of this joint-development is to further deepen the prosperous relationship with Proton Motorsports by presenting the Japanese market with a sporty automobile that has proven its capability as a solid motorsports base machine. Moreover, Carrosser will strive to dedicatedly support various teams and end users utilizing Proton machines in any given genre of motorsports especially the APRC,” Nagase added.
Also on display at the Tokyo Auto Salon is the Proton Artiga, a concept based on the Satria Neo, featuring a 1.6-liter supercharged power plant surrounded by lightweight carbon fiber body components, and the R3-developed 1.6-litre Saga.
Picture: Official Proton release.
