Proton Savvy
Maxabout Review
Sneak Preview of Proton Hatch
Friday, February 06, 2009
Proton is moving away from its origins as a manufacturer of cast-off Mitsubishi designs. The Savvy is a completely new supermini that has been designed and engineered entirely by the Malaysian company, with a little bit of help from subsidiary company, Lotus. Here is a brief preview of Savvy - At the front, the bold grille and characterful headlamps give the Savvy plenty of character. The interior features plenty of modern design cues, but quality falls woefully short of what European buyers expect from a modern supermini.
The plastics feel cheap and insubstantial, exposed screwheads are everywhere, the steering wheel feels greasy to the touch and the heater controls are set far too low. Seats are reasonably supportive and there's a decent range of driving position adjustment, but the rear seats lack headroom because of the pointless slope taken by the roof. The boot is small by modern supermini standards too. Proton is planning to enter the Indian automotive market from a long time now and it is expected that it will debut soon with atleast 2-3 models to start with.