proton preve

Ready to roll: The new Proton Prevé is expected to be launched soon.

“For us, the product is to prove that Malaysians can build a glo­- bal car. Coincidentally, Prevé also sounds like a word in Spanish which means ‘vision’.

“The Prevé is a re-alignment of our DNA for the future and is a de­­parture from the past,” Syed Zainal Abidin said at a press conference at the Maritime Centre here yesterday.

About 50,000 people thronged Proton’s “Power of 1” five-day showcase at Bukit Jalil National Sta­dium last month, where the Prevé received its first bookings from customers despite it being not officially launched yet.

The car will come in 1.6-litre CFE (premium), 1.6-litre CVT (executive) and the 1.6-litre manual editions, with prices from RM62,000 to RM75,000.

The Prevé is expected to be exported to the Asean market three months after its domestic launch, Syed Zainal Abidin said.

“Normally, the first foreign market to get the car is the Asean market, followed by right-hand-drive markets like Australia and then left-hand-drive markets, such as China and the Middle East,” he said, adding that the company aimed to sell 4,000 units of the model per month.

Proton Prevé Is Now The Official Name For Proton's New Global Car

It's now official. The Proton P3-21A, commonly known as the Proton Persona successor, will be named Proton Prevé, to be pronounced prae-vae and not preev as in Preve, the English word that the name Prevé is derived from, says Proton. Preve means “proof” in noun form or “to prove” as a verb, and either way Proton sees its new car as proof of the company's “vision and commitment” to finally produce a “global car with global standards”, a car competitive on an international platform and one that Malaysians can be proud of.

Why was the word Preve not chosen as it is then? Proton's official explanation: “For the purpose of injecting aesthetic elements to the name—visually and phonetically, and to give a touch of uniqueness to the car, an acute accent was added to the letter E—changing it to É, ultimately changing the visual of the word and its pronunciation.” Incidentally, Prevé also means “to envision” in Spanish, strengthening the case for the use of the word, as the new Proton symbolises a future envisioned by our national car maker.

Top Gear Season 14 Full Episode 5

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On the Top Gear Season 14 Episode 5, Clarkson reviews the Noble M600, a car powered by a Volvo twin-turbocharged V8 engine,producing 630 bhp. The 2,800 pound 1,250 kg M600 can accelerate from 0-62 mph in 3 seconds flat and require only another 3 seconds to achieve 100 mph. It has over 1G of grip on the skid pad. Stig succeeded to beat the Enzo Ferrari, the Bugatti Veyron and the Pagani Zonda Roadster F on Top Gear’s test track.

Top Gear Season 14 Episode 5

The show’s packed but not really action filled. In the words of Jeremy Clarkson, “I get scared half to death on our track. We host our own art exhibition. And a world champion is in our reasonably-priced car.”

To open the show, Jezza goes out on the track with the new Noble M600. Unlike most supercars of today, the car doesn’t boast of a carbon-fiber chassis. Instead, the Noble has a stainless steel one. It’s powered by a V8 lifted from the unflattering Volvo XC90. Only Noble had the good sense of twin-turbocharging it.

Its £200,000 price-tag might be seen as a stiff price especially since the car doesn’t even have sat-nav, climate control, and even anti-lock brakes. So what’s wrong with the current line of supercars, some of which can be had at a price much lower than the M600? Well Jezza makes the point clear as he blitzes the car past a Porsche, a Ferrari, a Lambo, an Aston, and a McLaren Mercedes. The car is fast.

It’s top speed is 225 mph thanks to the 650 hp power and 1250kg weight. The car even features a switch that comes from a Tornado fighter-bomber design not to be used by accident. Instead of firing a missile, though, it switches the traction control off. Then Jezza scares himself half to death.

Jezza’s verdict: When you switch the controls to a road setting it becomes a tamer animal and not too difficult to drive. It is quiet and comfortable. There are several reasons for one not to buy one (referring to all the other supercars) but one very good reason to get it (the speed). Around the track in the hands of the Stig, the Noble goes round in 1:17.7 – 4th fastest on the board behind the Gumpert, the Ascari, and the Koenigsegg.

On to the news. The have the Aston Martin Rapide in the studio which James May talks about for a bit. Since it’s Christmas, they feature car-inspired gifts like the RAC Eau de Voiture car perfume (and Jezza accidentally sprays some in his face), turn idicators for people, a Land Rover distress whistle, a Mercedes-Benz shirt (which Jezza sets on fire), a fork that has a 10mm spanner on the other end, an attachment that you slip in your exhaust to make your engine sound like it’s turbocharged, and a Richard Hammond calendar.

On to their main feature – the boys try to creat their own art exhibit. In an ingenious solution to dropping art gallery attendances, the boys set out drawing 30,000 attendees to a Mima gallery exhibit featuring car-related art. In addition to selecting existing art pieces, the boys also set about creating their own pieces.

James tries to create a sculture of his face using old car parts. Richard (who went to art school) tries make a painting of a Pagani Zonda with a small town backdrop. Jezza tries to create a painting by shooting paintballs out of an Red Bull F1 car onto a piece of canvass. He also tries to create a 200mph painting by spraying the F1 car with UV paint and having David Coulthard drive the car so that the paint streaks according to the airflow.

In an expected twist of bollocks, Richard’s painting falls into a pond. James’ sculpture bursts in flames while making it and collapses when an art critic looks at it. Jezza got a piece hit in the crotch by paintballs when they burst through the canvass. In a second attempt to have an art work, they set about painting a car with the theme of painting the inside parts of the car on the outside. They also tried creating another one by cutting the car in half only to find out that the car’s a rental.

Back to the studio for Jenson Button as the star in the reasonably-priced car. This is Jenson’s second time to guest on Top Gear. Fans might remember that Jezza ridiculed Jenson for not winning a race in his first appearance. Hi new lap time: 1:44.9 on a damp track. He wasn’t able to beat Lewis Hamilton’s 1:44.7 in the wet. His old mark was a 1:44.7 in the dry.

On to the last part of the art exhibit feature. In preparation, the boys are handed out tasks. Richard’s supposed to do rounds across radio stations to publicize the event. James has to do an audio guide for the tour. Jezza has to drive the car to the venue. And they cock it up. Hammond just talks about everything else but the exhibit. James makes a confusing audio guide. Jezza drives the car to a ditch.

Still, the exhibit opened and the queues didn’t even exceed 100. So they decided to plug the event at the football match. They appeared on the pitch wearing Newcastle jerseys to the ire of the Middlesborough crowd. A quick costume change and they make the proper plea to the public to drop by the Mima gallery. They drew a large crowd and the shmables that is James’ audio guide.

The exhibit drew only 15,000 – half of what they set as target but still a record for the Mima gallery.

Top Gear returns next week for their South America special.

Top Gear 14×5

The fifth episode of the 14th series of Top Gear ran on Sunday. The main car feature was the Noble M600. And while the car set a blistering time, I feel the same way about this car that I do about the episode as a whole: meh.

The Noble set a time of 1:17:7, which is the fourth fastest time on the board. It’s also faster than the Buggati Veyron, Pagani Zonda F, AND Ferrari Enzo. The time is pretty damn quick, but again I have no real desire for this car like I do with a Pagani or Ferrari. I don’t think it looks very nice, the interior is a whole lot of nothing, and I don’t think it sounds very good as well. To me, speed isn’t everything. It’s a lot, but it’s not everything.

This episode as a whole was a meh-feast as well for me. The car-art segment had its moments (I loved Coulthard blasting Jeremy with paintballs from the Red Bull F1 cars exhaust, that was awesome!), but the piece as a whole was just alright. The news segment was a let down as well, and I was really looking forward to the Christmas presents bit (I found the older ones hilarious). I get the feeling Top Gear is just basically living on the chemistry of the hosts alone, as they seem to be distancing themselves from the cars themselves. I mean I think Top Gear now is still LOADS better than Fifth Gear ever was, but it’s losing something. Maybe it really is nearing “the end”. The Noble M600 review was actually pretty good though (even though I didn’t care for the car itself), and I enjoyed the visuals, especially this shot (which weirdly doesn’t involve the Noble at all!):

I’d love to have this in high-res as a wallpaper!

Overall though, this IS Top Gear, so don’t think for a second I didn’t enjoy it! I guess I’m just hoping for more car features, and less “faffing about”. Anyway, I’ll put up the Noble M600 review, so you can judge for yourself the car and the show:

Noble shows off production M600

You're probably thinking, ‘hang on a second, that's not new, Jeremy tested it in 2009'?

Yes. Jeremy did test the M600 in 2009. But that, dear readers, was a prototype. This, according to Noble, is the final, production-ready supercar set to give the automotive aristocracy a kick up the splitter.

See more pics of the production-ready Noble M600

Quick stats - a 4.4-litre Volvo/Yamaha V8 produces three power outputs depending on how many Weetabix you've had that morning. The ‘Road' setting gives you 450bhp, ‘Track' bumps it up to 550bhp, and ‘Race' commands 650bhp. Each increases the boost curve and throttle response.

It weighs 1,250kgs, and with the Stig-switch applied (650bhp) gives around 530bhp-per-tonne, prompting the inevitable headline-grabbing reference to something Bugatti-shaped and fast...

Noble reckons it'll hit 120mph from rest in 8.9 seconds and go on to an estimated 225mph, making it quite a handy bit of kit.

The tub is made from stainless sheet steel, it's mid-engined and rear-wheel-drive and, though prices haven't been confirmed, will probably cost something in the region of £200,000.

Now remind yourself what our Jeremy thought when he gave it a shoeful...

noble m600 interior