Production of the three-row SUV started at a factory in Malaysia a couple of weeks ago. «Live» sales of new items will begin in April.
The Malaysian company Proton several years ago came under the control of the Chinese holding company Geely Auto. As a result (quite expectedly), its lineup included models created on the basis of the «Chinese». Of these new products, the Proton X70 crossover became the first-born: this is the former Geely Boyue, in the Russian Federation the updated SUV is sold under the name Atlas Pro. Next, the lineup was replenished by the «junior» SUV — Proton X50, created on the basis of the pre-reform Geely Binyue, which is presented on the Russian market under the name Coolray. Very soon, the line will be replenished with another new product — Proton X90.
The fact that the Proton brand lineup will be replenished with the next turned Geely has been known for more than a year: back in 2021, camouflaged prototypes were caught during road tests. In the middle of this month, it became known that the model was put on the assembly line of a plant in Malaysia, but the name of the future novelty was not disclosed then. Now it is known: as expected, they decided to call the big crossover Proton X90.
As Kolesa.ru reported earlier, the new three-row Proton SUV was based on the Geely HaoYue crossover, which is presented in export markets under the name Geely Okavango. Recall that the “donor” debuted in 2020, survived the first modernization in 2021, the second update was last year: the restyled version received an addition L to the name, since the pre-reform version remained in service in China.
The Malaysian large SUV received a third exterior design option: the “90th” was equipped with its own radiator grille, in the center of which is the Proton brand logo. In addition, the head optics have a different diode filling, while the shape of the headlights has not changed. The headlights look similar, the shape of the reflectors has been changed, and the exhaust pipe is hidden under the rear bumper. Instead of «Geely» on the fifth door, «Proton» is written in the same font. turned out to be smaller than that of the donor: 4825 mm; for comparison, in the pre-reform version of Geely HaoYue (without the addition of L), this dimension is 4835 mm. The wheelbase is 2815 mm, that is, it is the same as that of the «twin» from China.
Salon Proton X90 almost repeats the «donor». Of course, the Malaysian SUV has a steering wheel on the right, and the Proton logo is located in its center. In front of the driver is a 10-inch virtual instrument panel, in the center is a 12.3-inch touchscreen infotainment system. In Malaysia, the model is offered only in three rows (although in China, the Geely crossover is also offered with two rows of seats). The novelty has options designed for seven and six (in the second case, there are two separate seats in the second row). In the photo: the interior of the Proton X90
The Proton X90 is equipped with a 1.5-liter “turbo engine”, the return of which is 190 hp, and the maximum torque is 300 Nm. It works in tandem with a 48-volt starter-generator, and is paired with a non-alternative seven-speed robotic gearbox with two wet clutches. The drive of a large SUV is only front. In China, the “donor” from Geely is equipped with a 184-horsepower “turbo-four” with a volume of 1.8 liters.
Live sales of the Proton X90 in Malaysia will start in April after a series of previews in several cities starting on April 8th. Note that the Proton brand is not represented in the Russian Federation, in addition, Geely does not officially sell its export Okavango on the Russian market.