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.
