Top 10 Radical Malaysian Car Designs

Just as I had promised although a little late, I have finally resolved to blog up about the Top 10 Radical Malaysian Car Designs that I personally think stands out in the Malaysian automotive scene. Some are rather silly while the others are significantly different in their own unique way and as I have listed 10 Malaysian cars, they make a major significant impact in how Malaysians conceive and perceive it.

Starting with the first car at Number 10 :- The Proton Saga FL

Proton had taken a rather radical step to giving the Saga a facelift that might not suit to everyone's taste like the previous front facia and its design looks pretty outlandish.

At number 9 :- The Proton Tiara

While the Proton Tiara was never a success to Proton and one of its failed products, It's pretty much an oddball to Proton's line during its time . Since it's a rebadged Citroen AX, they had done well to style it according to Malaysian tastes.

For Number 8 :- The Proton Satria GTI

While this car isn't really a strange looking car as it seems, but it's radical for its well design sporty look for its time in 98' and still looks great till today... it's also radical in a way for being the best car made by Proton in terms of performance.

Number 7 :- The Proton Satria Neo

The next incarnation of the Satria was a stunning design that replaced the rather bland previous Satria that was based on the Mirage-Colt. The design still looks great just as it is being rallied in the S2000 series and APRC. Although the interior was pretty much a disappointment in terms of quality...

Number 6 :- Perodua Kancil

I am particularly referring to the last generation of its facelift around the 2000's, because it is quite an achievement to re-do such a big area of the original Kancil based Daihatsu Mira. This facelift was pretty much a good one that disguised its older predecessor..

At number 5 :- The Proton Waja

While judging which car would be the first, I had the Waja in mind to be 2nd because, the Waja was our first in house design car that was a success to breaking off from Mitsu rebadges.. Although it was also the car to suffer from bad build quality..

Number 4 :- The Proton Savvy

Since the Proton Tiara failed, Proton decided to enter in the supermini territory. But of course they weren't good in making small cars. To revive the failed Tiara, they came up with the Savvy. If you think the names weird, the Design was pretty much very radical for its time aswell. Whether it's about the interior or the exterior, it was pretty quirky to compete with the european rivals. Such as the step up windows or the bonnet that is regarded as a toilet seat..

Number 3 :- The Proton Juara

Were getting closer to Number 1 , but for number 3 it's the Proton Juara. Another car that was a flop by Proton for it's radical and ridiculous look, no one really bought it with only a very limited number that was sold. It's design is understandable since it's a rebadge of the Mitsubishi Town Box and would have deffinately be better off as a Japanese kei-van.

Number 2 :- Proton Arena/Jumbuck

Why is this radical? It has to be radical! Who in the right mind, during the 2000's would ever think of creating a utility vehicle/ Ute/ pick up truck especially Proton!? It would have been a pretty risky move for Proton to introduce such a variant. And while nobody ever thought about taking a Proton Wira base derived from the 90's Lancer to turn it into a pick up truck, it is deffinately a radical turn.

Number 1 ! :- Proton Gen-2

I'm pretty sure not all of you would agree with me on this. But after taking sometime to think about it, I had concluded on the Gen-2 to be the most radical Malaysian Design. While Proton cars were all pretty bland and safe. Right after the Proton Waja had been launched, came the Proton Gen-2 which was pretty outstanding to its design. But because of its huge leap in design, it's quality was one of the worse during its time for Proton, especially its interior and its ergonomics were poor. Come to think of it, seriously! what car manufacturer had offered Turquoise/Aqua blue for their car that time!? Now that's seriously radical.

To see what I really mean, take yourself back to 2003 and imagine you were watching this ad..

Even after watching this today, it still reminds me of how radical it is and I'm still blown away today lol..

Next post i'll be posting about the current Project P.D.C

Latest Artwork : Mid Year Exams

Back in February during CNY, I posted up some of the latest artwork for the CNY Editions. It has been many months since I've done so and recently I had just taken my mid year exams. While preparing for my art papers, I had done some sketching to give me a glimpse or idea what I was going to draw for PSV (pendidikan Seni Visual) or Visual Art. The question was :- Sebuah Kereta mewah yang sangat cantik dan hebat sedang diparkir di laman sebuah rumah (draw a really beautiful luxury car parked at a porch of a house) . So I decided to sketch out a Merc and got some of the details from the Merc C Class coupe. Now the other drawing below, is a C210 Skyline drawn much earlier before during my Intervensi Exam a few months back.

Top 10 Radical Malaysian Car Designs - Preview

I mentioned a little something earlier about blogging on The Top 10 Radical Malaysian Car Designs. So I decided to whip up something as the teaser so that it'll be a little more exciting and interesting. Plus, its 2.37 A.m. right now and will be heading off to bed. For now, let the teaser amuse you and open up the world of possibilities.. lol if you do have any suggestion on any models, feel free to share it with me. The changes that Malaysia has taken place has also evolved in it's car designs as well. I'll be covering about it, since well, i think nobody hasn't really done it before =P

What do these pictures have In Common?

What do these cars have in common? You've guessed it! Their White! Lol! And I made a compilation for what I really meant in my few previous posts. I have no intention to bash or to mock our dear Malaysian made cars. But isn't it Dejavu when you look at these pictures? I've set them chronically in the time launched by order. So yup.. lol Starts with the above, the Saga SE

The Proton's 25th anniversary Editions (still look the same don't they? the Black grill on the

Exora isn't my cup of tea xP)

White Proton Inspira

White Saga FL during its launch..

Proton's Concept cars in KLIMS 2010

And finally, recently announced Persona Elegance and the Saga FL are now offered in white

Well that's it for now, the next post i'd be blogging about the Top 10 Most Radical Malaysian Car Designs . lol

Proton going White? - Thoughts - Rants

Wow it's been a long time since the Thoughts-Rants section was posted on the blog and what more appropriate time to blog after blogging about the c210 in a 1 month period. I decided to blog about my thoughts and rants very soon after Proton decided to launch their new Saga FL 1.6L Executive. What triggered me to rant more about Proton wasn't my deep sense of hatred nor was my great sense of patriotism towards Malaysian made cars, but rather about its colour schemes in its palette offerings.

Before I had actually started ranting about Proton's range of colours, I was actually ranting about this Saga FL 1.6L Executive name. It was only a few moments ago that i actually posted about it in FB. The name "Executive" is rather ironic which is quite obvious since this is a B-segment car. I would have understood if company executives drove this as their roundabout cars but for executive use? I highly doubt it.. it'll make more sense if it was a Perdana.

Now back to the topic. As much as I have respect for Proton in their efforts to regain back the Malaysian consumer's confidence, I'm a little skeptical in our local homegrown designers that are hired by Proton. One of the things that I've observed so far in the past 2 to 3 years are the selection of white themes for their product offerings such as the 25th anniversary Proton models that are in white, the Saga FL concept - white, all of the Proton Concepts during KLIMS 2010 and the new Saga FL 1.6L Exec. Why am I ranting about this? White I believe, is a pretty tricky colour to apply and implement as a signature colour for the brands identity. If you get it wrong, it get's pretty boring, because majority of cars on the road today are either Black, Silver, Grey or White which can be very dull thus have very little impact of standing out in the crowd. On the other hand if you get it right, it might just be very rewarding to the brands image. The colour white, time symbolises purity which requires good-clean cut design and strong contrast colours for it to stand out. Therefore, if the colour does not match the vehicles clean design, it wouldn't fit very well.. especially on rather messy designed cars.

Cars that contrast it well and have formed their identity by its colour add some bits of contrasting colours that are obvious to look at. Take for example the Honda Civic Type-R FD2. It's theme does somehow seem to relate pretty much with the Saga (the white and red theme).

Honda Civic Type-R FD2

What really is special about the Civic though, are its white wheels, red badges and its brake calipers. By just adding a red stripe however, would not be enough to provide a stronger visual appearance on the Saga. One of the effective and best looking combinations was the Gen 2 which had a striking visual impact by adding grey/black wheels and a painted black avantgarde like roof. I think the best examples of white cars can be found on a selected bunch of European cars such as the Golf Gti, Gallardo and even Audi A6 Coupe. Nevertheless i think Malaysian car designers, especially in Proton still need to have a higher standard of taste, style and a bit more professionalism in my opinion.. I would consider some "editions" to be half baked by adding bits and pieces which clearly shows how they had not include excellence in their work. So, white protons? they don't really cut it or hit its spot since they've taken bold decisions before this such as the Aqua Turquoise colour for the Gen2 and Saga. They should really reconsider the colour white if they could improve on it. Honda has successfully done it with their Type-R models. =P

Proton Gen 2 CPS M-Line

Lamborghini Gallardo LP560

Vw Golf GTI