WITH its imminent launch some time soon, Proton Holdings Bhd has officially confirmed specification details of its highly-anticipated S70 sedan.
This includes both new and leaked information which have surfaced on social media. Additionally, the media have since been invited to give the car a run at the test track.
It can now be confirmed that the sedan would come in four variants: Executive, Premium, Flagship and Flagship X.
The car will compete directly in the B-segment market bringing with it C-segment offerings - which the S70 is more than capable of given our initial impressions of it.
No price has been given though the company has said that the car is to take up a unique market position in Proton's lineup of offerings - where it is meant to fill in the vacuum between the Persona and the company's X series' X50 sports utility vehicle (SUV).
Proton adds that they currently have enough SUVs in their own range and have thus opted to launch a sedan.
All variants will utilize a 1.5L turbocharged engine paired with a seven-speed dual-clutch transmission to deliver 150Ps and 226Nm of torque.
It will have three drive modes: Eco, Sport and Comfort.
This alone separates the S70 from Geely's Emgrand model which Proton's sedan is based on - the Chinese automaker's car does not come with a 1.5L turboengine and is instead fitted with a 1.5 liter naturally aspirated inline-4 engine which delivers 115 Ps and at least 145 Nm torque.
According to Proton, the S70 is at least 70 per cent all-new different from the Emgrand which includes heavy localization in parts, features and tuning.
To that end, Proton says that the car has undergone 75,000 man hours of testing as well as 1.2 million KM of road testing.
For the time being 55 per cent of the car's parts are locally source with an aim to be at least 75 per cent eventually.
When questioned, Proton said that it has decided on a 1.5L multi-port turbocharged engine instead of direct injection due to its sufficiency in performance for the S70 and overall cost strategy.
What we've also come to know is that the car's boot capacity is at 500L. Android Auto and Apple Carplay is absent at launch and will only be available at a later date through update.
As previously mentioned, the standard Executive variant will come with six SRS airbags, lane change assist, electric parking brake, 16-inch alloy wheels, fabric seats, and an eight-inch infotainment head unit.
The Premium variant adds on LED headlamps, rear tail light bar, leatherette seats and a reverse camera.
The Flagship variants have the Advanced Driver Assistance System (ADAS), a tyre pressure monitoring system, 17-inch alloy wheels, a 10.3-inch LCD meter combination, driver power seat, 12.3-inch infotainment head unit, wireless charger, and a 360-degree camera with 3D display.
What the X variant has over the base Flagship is the inclusion of a sunroof.
The seven colour options are Snow White, Armour Silver, Space Grey, Passion Red, Marine Blue, Quartz Black and Teal Bayou Green.
The base Flagship has access to all of the colours except for Quartz Black, which is available only to the X variant, although it in turn loses the silver and red options.
The S70 is the fourth all-new Proton model to be jointly developed together with Geely and is the first sedan, with the previous three models being the X70, X50 and X90 sport utility vehicles.
It is the second all-new model to be offered this year and the first sedan added to the Proton lineup since the launch of the Persona in August 2016.
Proton has set a sales target of 2,000 units monthly for the S70. It had received 400 bookings following the line-off ceremony for the model last month.
All Proton outlets would accept bookings with a RM500 deposit as of Nov 1. No other details are available at press time, including the launch date and pricing.
