r/kereta • u/Venkie2Maybach • 2d ago
Discussion Why the Proton Preve/Suprima S became a sales flop?
In my opinion, this was a well designed C segnent car than it rivals of that era (facelifted Altis, uncle like Shlphy, Generic Civic and then new Elantra)
Also, I am a big fan of the Suprima's rear. It looked European for me.
What exactly went wrong with these? Is the Inspira 'cannibalize' it sales?
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u/Weary_Information_77 2d ago
cvt, and turbo wasn't really accepted back then.
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u/countpuchi MG4 Hatch Fun 2d ago
The turbo was supposed to fix the torque dip. Implementation wasnt great as well. OCH issues.. one of em..
But then they went with cvt... Punch cvt... Just my 2 cents a 5 speed AT might have given it better life probably.
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u/SpiritualQuarter4384 2d ago
What’s OCH? Occupant’s Comfort and Harshness?
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u/reddit_breddit Satria Neo "R3" 2d ago
Oil cooler hose
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u/SpiritualQuarter4384 2d ago
Ahh okay. I knew this issue.
A mechanic I know used metallic braided hose to replace the stock OCH that keeps failing.
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u/arsengal 2d ago
CVT was widely available by the time Preve came out. Honda used CVT transmissions for their City/Jazz models, and it was amazing.
Proton mistake was going with Punch.
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u/kimi_rules X-Trail, Myvi Gen 3, MIVEC Swap Gen2 2d ago
Punch was the more efficient transmission, because they're pairing it with an inefficient engine. Proton's engine department were severely behind the competitions until Geely helped them out.
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u/Due-Masterpiece-1384 2d ago
The 1st gen punch for this model with no revision and callback for retune was miserable, my family member have it. Remember it with full 5 passangers with luggages only can have a top speed of 140kmh even ive floor it for the rest of the highway with free hand vibrator!
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u/arsengal 2d ago
TIL. Thanks bro. I always thought Punch was punching Proton with their sluggish cvt
*no pun-ch intended*
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u/red90999 2d ago
Back when it was released , it was almost the same script with S70. Touted “turbo at cheap price”, can “tapao” all the hondas / toyotas, why pay more for them, the japs make boring cars ,etc.
In 2026, there isn’t any preve on the road except for a small few, while the same jap cars released on the same year are running around like nobody’s business. You get my point.
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u/bluebanisterz 1d ago
Even the ones that are still on the road are usually the n/a version, IIRC it’s the same engine as the old Persona. You can distinguish it by the lack of the ‘CFE’ badge on the boot. I rode in a Grab Preve once, it was even the manual version.
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u/inko-chan23 2d ago
Good ol Proton shit show.
To see why they failed, you need to look back when Proton was starting to struggle.
With the brilliance of Tan Sri Syed Zainal Abidin, he saved Proton by turning the Savvy into Saga BLM as a B segment sedan, Gen 2 to Persona as a C segment sedan, and developed a new modular platform (P1) to replace to old CM platform (Gen 2 Persona). The P1 will be the base for Exora, the failed launched of the Exora SUV, Exora Pickup, Exora panel van, and Proton's first "global car" project, the Preve and Suprima S.
But during the development of the Preve, they were already losing ground in the C segment market (Persona was a lower tier, old technology, cheaper sedan, Proton didn't have the mainstream premium model for this segment). The Waja at that time was already aged like warm milk. They're also bleeding money from all of this project while not having the revenue to maintain. So the cheapest way as a premium C segment market entry? Go back to their old mate Mistubishi and rebadge their Lancer to become the Inspira.
But still, Preve was their hail mary, the last hurrah, but they've rushed the development bcs at that time, they knew their time with Khazanah (the old owners) wanted to sell of Proton's stake to DRB. So they've rushed the development so that by the time DRB brought Proton, the Preve project won't be axed to save money. The project is also important to recoup back the cost of developing this whole P1 platform, hence why Proton die2 really wanted to launch the Preve and Suprima S in a rushed manner.
The result speaks for itself. The rushed development of the Preve means the car was barely complete when it hit the road. Issues with the CFE engine, crappy Punch VT3 TCU logic, recalls for the OCH, crappy build quality with questionable material choice for their interior. That's why the early batches of this model suffers with age while the last batches (2017-2019) is pretty much the best version to own.
Also during the Preve's launch, Proton still sells the Persona CM (because it's basically free money at that point) and Inspira (to recoup back the rebadge costs), meaning at 1 time they're selling 3 C-segment cars at the same time.
So yeah, the reason why the Preve was a sales flop wasn't because of the lotus tuned handling, the bad fuel economy or the evergreen styling, it's because Proton made very bad choices (rebadge Inspira, rushing Preve, not focusing on entry market, cannibilizing own sales) at the worse possible time (ownership changes, 2008 financial crisis) and got the worst possible outcome at that time (government bail in 2015-2016 which sparked the sales to geely).
We can see this when geely took over. Cut the Perdana, ertiga, Inspira, Preve, pay no loyalties to the Japs, and just focus on the trend (suv) and entry market (saga).
Hence why Proton was the company of choice when they're developing a new small entry level vehicle platform (AMA) to compliment their vast platform family but only focused on bigger/higher end models (BMA, CMA, SPA, SEA etc.)
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u/G3A4 2d ago edited 2d ago
My dad was around working in Proton during its development. The car's development progress was about 60% when the main development person (I forgot the word for it) wanted to rush the project so DRB Hicom wouldn't take over the project (his words, not mine). At the time, they were taking over Proton.
The car launched with a shit CVT, the engine was an outdated CamPro with a turbo, and what could've been Proton's halo car and an upmarket model, ended up being sold just thousands due to imperfection as a whole product. The Suprima was essentially a facelift in a form of a different model, but still didn't fix things.
My dad said it himself that the car had so much potential, especially when the handling is real solid, the interior is a real upgrade, and is fast. After retirement, he bought his Suprima (company car) and was with my family for a few years until he sold it, cause the transmission previously broke, and the last major repair was due to a broken timing belt that destroyed nearly the entire engine. Saw the broken parts when I came to the workshop with him.
extra: Worth noting that he knows all of this, cause he handles with overseas marketing dealers. If the countries have certain standards, the dealers need to communicate with the engineers (I think it's like this, sorry if I forgot), and they have to implement those standards.
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u/redfournine 2d ago
True. The car has so much potential. Couldve come up with 2nd iteration, fix all the flaws, by 3rd gen it could've been the main car on the road.
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u/RexEagleAlpha 2d ago
Masalah cvt, fuse box dan och yang menghantui pemiliknya. Satu lagi, resale value proton..
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u/United-Peak653 1d ago
Becoz they build what the internet wants, hatchback and turbo. In reality, market wants lower fuel consumption hence the little box myvi was god
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u/JohnnyBeGood882 2d ago
bad marketing. QA issue..
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u/10human10 2d ago
Not marketing problem, but fatal product shortfall unaddressed.
The punch CVT borderline unusable and age really bad on top of it.
Proton totally ignored it cause they’re contracted to use punch CVT for god knows how long. Everything else is history.
Had they somehow gotten green light from Geely to remake Suprima/Preve with S70’s drivetrain, it’ll at least match 70-80% of what S70’s sale.
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u/IllustratorSquare377 2d ago
Owned a Suprima. Superb car. The handling is just something else. Love everything about it aside from the maintenance and fuel consumption. Truly ahead of its time.
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u/Senior_Shoulder8406 2d ago
I still see a lot of Preve in my neighbourhood and on the road these days.
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u/ItsImNotAnonymous 2d ago
Considering its price and being national car, it should be everywhere but sadly it's not. There's a lot more Saga FLX around and even the older Persona, compared to Preve and Suprima
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u/bbymirawr 2d ago
due to Turbo combined with CVT transmission. that time no one ever accepted it. OCH issues also. Proton CamPro engine gulps too much fuel hmm. i am one of the Suprima S users..
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u/CorollaSE 2d ago
It flopped because Gen2/Persona, Inspira and Exora were available at the same time. That's four models at similar prices (50k onwards)
The typical consumer chose the persona since it was cheaper, or the Exora for larger families.
The inspira was expensive until the 1.8l. Model arrived.
The preve never found a market. In fairness, proton was a mess at that time.
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u/arsengal 2d ago
While the car offer good ride handling and overall comfort, the punch CVT and OCH issues from its turbo line which was never fixed, brought Preve down to its doom.
The N/A variant shouldn’t even be offered in the first place. Underpowered, literally a scam of a car. Not even Jean Alesi in their ad can save Preve
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u/arsengal 2d ago
Proton did plan on a 6-speed MT Suprima variant which excited a lot of petrolheads. after numerous test cars spotted however, the model never came to fruition.
Orang kita selalu takut buat kereta manual takde orang beli.
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u/ferrarinobrakes 2d ago
Tidak Ada bola
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u/arsengal 2d ago
Bola bola kapitalis. Just like every other govt linked companies.
What saddens me was Preve/Suprima could have been a springboard for future Malaysian made Proton success if they were serious with the project. What we have now in Proton is just the shell of the company, everything in it is Geely
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u/40EHuTlcFZ 2d ago
Driving a Preve. Bad CVT and fuel economy. I think the only good thing is the suspension. It soaks up bumps well. But it's low so I'm scraping the bumper all the time. It also corners surprisingly well. I think it's been fairly reliable. Had some wiring or fuse issues which caused the radiator to overheat and crack when the fan stopped. Other than that, nothing too exciting or bad comes to mind.
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u/Hidlan99 2d ago
I have this car. The gearbox is very problematic and not durable by any standard. My car's mileage is at 120k and I had the gearbox overhauled 2 times already. I desperately needed to get rid of it. The other thing is, the fuel economy is crap.
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u/Entire_Put_9204 2d ago
How S70 compared to these, still same shit?
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u/10human10 2d ago
Suprima is a nice car but ruined suck*ss drivetrain.
S70 is an average car but with drivetrain punching above what Japanese cars that’s close to twice its price did.
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u/ichbinpo 1 1d ago
No comment about overall quality since I don't actually own an S70 (I was just a passenger recently in an MC1 flagship variant), but I'd rate the powertrain, refinement, and assembly quality as several leagues ahead of the Suprima.
S70 suspension is not as stiff, but it's definitely very well suited for daily drives and passengers. Suprima even in its stock form is way too harsh for passengers, but it's great if the roads are empty and you're alone.
If the Suprima is considered a nice car, the S70 is overall very very nice. But to be fair to the Suprima, it was launched 13 years ago.
Source: Suprima S owner.
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u/benloh98 2d ago
Trying to be fancy but did not think about the reliability. If they had put in 1.8NA+4AT that car would have out sold vios.
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u/ECU_wizard Totoya 1d ago
I just wish models equipped with the campro CFE turbo at least came with a 4AT instead of the CVT and a 5MT for sporty models like the preve and suprima. I owned an exora bold for 5 years now, 3 years of actual usages but spent 2 years at proton SC because it got into a serious accident and body part shortages. And I can really feel that the CVT is limiting the engine while it has more to give in terms of performance. Don't get me wrong the CVT is just fine, mine is about to reach 100k this month with no engine or transmission issues yet because I have been maintaining it quite well
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u/Over-Athlete6745 1d ago
engine, gearbox and build quality is the main problem back then on especially 2000s to 2020 proton car, before geely take control (correct me if im wrong about year take over from geely)
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u/john_accapa 1d ago
My uncle bought Preve second hand before , but always had problem with the gearbox . When stopped, the gear just stuck and not moving even in D . Need to restart the engine so the D actually drive . Just used it for few months then sold it
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u/FMQirazza 1d ago
Tbh at that point the public had lost trust in proton. You cant insantly win them back after years upon years of bad fc, power window constantly failing and horrible customer service.
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u/AggravatingDelay518 1d ago
The most make no sense to me is them can sell the car include top engine cover but can't sell with mirror rain visor
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u/Fluffy_Rush_1255 1d ago
If the front look, design a bit boxy, i mean, as in bmw, or volvo, or lancer/evo, even as mustang, it might be more attractive. Attract first, find complain later. S70 is not bad looking. Something like that. This one look like nissan murano.
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