At the Proton Chinese New Year media appreciation dinner today, CEO Li Chunrong shared a few updates regarding the national carmaker’s future plans. Notably, these included a surprising announcement concerning its homegrown models, reinforcing the notion that its lineup won’t be entirely replaced by Geely-based models. Li confirmed that Proton will be setting up a new R&D centre in Hangzhou, China specifically for the development of its homegrown models.
As yet, it’s unclear if the new models will be a development of the current cars or be based on Geely’s platforms – like the B-segment Modular Platform (BMA) that underpins the X50. Whichever route Proton takes, we can safety assume these cars won’t simply be rebadged versions of existing Geely models and will have considerably greater local input. Also unclear is the timeline for the introduction of these new homegrown cars, which has been intentionally left open for debate