CarBrandLogos archive · Proton · 2000
The first car Proton designed itself, with Lotus doing the handling.
Discover the storyPhoto: Manoj Prasad from Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia · CC BY-SA 2.0
The story
Explore the ideas, engineering and context that shaped the Proton Waja, then continue into its specifications and place in the marque's lineage.
01
The name means steel, and the point being made was independence. Launched in May 2000, the Waja was the first Proton designed in-house rather than adapted from a Mitsubishi, and it arrived four years after Proton had bought Lotus, whose engineers handled the ride and handling development. That combination gave a modest Malaysian C-segment saloon a chassis that reviewers consistently rated above its price.
Proton Waja , Serdang · User:Two hundred percent. · CC BY-SA 3.0
02
The engines told the more complicated half of the story. Early cars used a Mitsubishi 1.6-litre 4G18, with a Renault-derived 1.8 above it, because Proton did not yet have an engine of its own. That changed during the car's life with the arrival of the CamPro, developed with Lotus, in both standard and variable-valve CPS forms. A V6 version was built in very small numbers for official use.
Proton Waja , Serdang · User:Two hundred percent. · CC BY-SA 3.0
03
Production ran to June 2011 at Shah Alam, and the Inspira replaced it. The Waja is remembered less for what it sold than for what it proved: that Proton could put a car of its own design into production, even if the engineering underneath it still had to be borrowed for a while longer.
'06 Proton Impian 1.6 GLS Humberside Police car · Alan Gold · CC BY-SA 2.0
At a glance
Engine
1.6 L 4G18 SOHC I4Body
4-door saloonTechnical specification
Badge at launch
This is the marque emblem that accompanied the Waja's era. The full identity timeline is documented in the brand archive.
Explore the logo history →Contemporaries from the 2000s
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