Volkswagen to Build Cars in Malaysia, will Start with the Passat from 2011

The Volkswagen Group on Tuesday signed an agreement with Malaysia's DRB Hicom auto group for local vehicle assembly as the Wolfsburg-based automaker seeks to expand its operations in Southeast Asia under the Strategy 2018 growth program. The announcement came after VW abandoned alliance talks with Malaysian state-owned carmaker Proton earlier this year for undisclosed reasons.

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Lotus CEO Says Concept City Car will Enter Production in "October 2013"

It appears that Aston Martin won't be the only British sports car maker to have a controversial small city car in its range. Lotus chief executive Dany Bahar told Car magazine that the Concept City Car, which was previewed at the recent Paris Motor Show alongside five sports car studies, has been approved for production. The comapny's CEO said the car will be manufactured in cooperation with Lotus parent company Proton and an undisclosed third party.

"Our city car has been confirmed and will be launched in October 2013," Mr. Bahar told the British magazine. "We are doing this together with Proton and another OEM [original equipment manufacturer, or car maker]. We will build three versions: one for the Asian market, one for Europe and a sportier one."

The Lotus flavored Concept City Car is based on one of the three Giugiaro-penned Proton EMAS design studies, which were first shown in Geneva earlier this year.

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Lotus Renault GP is the New Kid on the 2011 Formula 1 Block

Lotus announced today that it’s taking over the “Renault F1 Team” and creating a new team named “Lotus Renault GP” that will compete in the 2011 Formula 1 season and onwards. This is not the first time that the two companies have worked together in Formula 1, as in the 1980s, Lotus used turbocharged engines sourced from the French carmaker.

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Proton Rebadges Lotus Europa to Create Lekir Sports Concept

Taking center stage at Proton's 2010 Kuala Lumpur International Motor Show booth alongside the Mitsubishi Lancer EVO-esque Jebat study, is yet one more concept model based on another manufacturer's vehicle, the Lekir. This time, Proton looked into its own car bin and in particular, Lotus, which it acquired back in 1994, as the Lekir is essentially a rebagded Europa coupe. Mind you, it's not the first time we've seen the Europa wearing different logos as Dodge displayed an EV concept of the model at the 2009 Detroit Show.

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Proton Shows Mitsubishi Lancer EVO X Lookalike Concept of Inspira with 240HP Turbo Engine

The 2010 Kuala Lumpur International Motor Show at the Putra World Trade Centre in Malaysia saw local automaker and owner of Lotus, Proton, revealing a host of concept models including a sport prototype of the recently launched Inspira called the Jebat. Needless to say, it's clearly inspired from the Mitsubishi Lancer EVO X.

As you may remember, the Inspira is a rebadged Mitsubishi Lancer sedan and is the result of an OEM collaboration between the Malaysian automaker and Mitsubishi Japan. However, we're not so sure if Mitsubishi had this in mind when it was signing the agreement with Proton.

In any case, the Jebat study, which could very well lead to a similar production model, features a wide body kit with blistered wheel arches and splashes of matte black paint all around the car. Power is provided by a turbocharged 4-cylinder MiVEC engine producing 237HP (177kW) at 6,000 rpm and 343Nm of peak torque at 3,000 rpm.

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New Proton Inspira: The Malaysian Lancer Officially Launched

Proton has officially unveiled its Mitsubishi Lancer-derived Inspira mid-sizer, after its soft launch to the public and media in late October. Since then Proton has received over 1,800 bookings from customers around Malaysia in anticipation of its market launch this month.

The new model is the result of an OEM collaboration (the word "rebadge" sounds nastier...) between PROTON and Mitsubishi Japan, the latter providing the mechanical and design basis and the former tweaking the model for the Malaysian market.

Among those changes are the signature Proton grille and -according to the Malaysian company- the incorporation of Lotus DNA in the Inspira's ride and handling.

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Proton Rebadges Mitsubishi Lancer and Calls it Inspira. Too bad it isn't an EVO..

Proton, Malaysia's national carmaker and owners of Lotus, has taken the wraps of its latest model. No, you aren't looking at a cheesy Photoshop and this isn't an April Fools joke come six months late: this is the firm's new mid-sized Inspira sedan.

For those of you fooled by the *cough* deceptive *cough* restyling Proton has done, the Inspira (from the Bahasa Malaysia word 'Inspirasi' which means 'Inspiration') is based on the current generation Mitsubishi Lancer.

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Geneva Show: Giugiaro's EMAS Italian Kei Cars

Italdesign Giugiaro's latest design study is a three-car plug-in collection debuting under the name EMAS, which stands for Eco Mobility Advanced Solutions (Emas also means "gold" in Malay). Built in collaboration with Proton and Lotus Engineering, their goal is to showcase variable-design mini-sized cars that provide the interior space of mid-sizers.

For reference, the silver 5-door is the Emas Comfort, the orange one is the Emas Country, and the white 3-door is the Emas3 City.

The shared platform was designed in-house by Italdesign Giugiaro, and with its hybrid system's layout the seating position the Emas family retains a crossover-ish ride height. Thanks to their nifty packaging, interior space is at a maximum.

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Mitsubishi and Proton Join Forces to Develop New Car

Malaysian national automaker Proton has formed an alliance with Japan's Mitsubishi for the development and production of a new car. Although details were not disclosed, it is reported that the two companies are working on a small hatchback that will enter the market after 2010. Furthermore, under the new agreement that was signed between the two companies, the Japanese carmaker will grant a non-exclusive license to the Proton to manufacture a new Mitsubishi vehicle based product. In a joint statement, the two companies said that they are also continuing "to study other mutually beneficial avenues of collaboration".

Proton Launches Dual-Fuel GEN-2 ecologic LPG Range

Malaysian automaker Proton has expanded its GEN-2 range in the U.K. with the introduction of two ‘ecoLogic’ dual fuel models that are able to run on either petrol or LPG (liquefied petroleum gas). Equipped with a 1.6-liter engine, the GEN-2 ecoLogic is available in both sedan and hatchback forms priced at £10,995 and £10,795 respectively. That means Proton is offering its dual-fuel models at the same price as their petrol equivalents, saving motorists about £1,500-£2,000 in conversion costs. According to Proton, based on an average annual mileage of 10,000 miles and the prices of petrol and LPG at £1.12 and 58p respectively, owners of the LPG models can save over £500 a year. -Continued

Proton says that the GEN-2 ecoLogic starts on petrol and then switches to LPG when it’s most efficient to do so, which is usually after about 20 seconds. The only visible addition to the interior is a switch on the centre console that shows the fuel level while on the outside, there is a second filler cap next to the petrol cap, which is matched to the exact colour of the car. As for the LPG tank, it is located in the spare wheel well.