The Inspira Inspiration

On 10th November 2010 the Waja (Impian in the UK) was finally replaced after more than 10 years in production. The Waja was the first Proton (despite it's Mitsubishi sourced power plant) which wasn't direcly design-wise, associated with a foreign partner. They added  if I'm not mistaken a Renault/French gearbox for the 1.8 version but it wasn't a good move. After more than fifteen years of recycled Lancers, Colts, Galants and AXs; the Waja was a breath of fresh air. The Waja even raced in the BTCC!

After the Waja, a few more in-house designs were released; the Gen-2, Savvy, Exora, Saga and a Gen-2 with a boot called the Persona. The latest Proton offering is called the Inspira and it is based, almost 100% on the current Lancer. That fact made Bung Mukhtar (Mr Zizie) very upset. He was so upset he told Proton to close shop. Or something to that effect. 

Tuan Dato Syed the Proton MD explained why they went back to the 'recycling' mode. And I totally agree with him. Someone should tell YB Bung the cost of developing a car from zero is enormous and it takes a lot of sales to break even let alone to turn a profit. The auto industry is constantly changing; car companies merge, change hands or go bust every few years. To cut costs, the auto manufacturers share the development expenditure (devex? ala capex, geddit?); Peugeot and Citroen does it all the time. Golf, A3 and Ibiza have the same DNA. Ford and Mazda have been doing it ever since the days of the 323/Laser, 626/Telstar. In fact, the 2nd generation TX3 is the Escort in the US. There is no more Pontiac, Hillman or Austin. If not for TATA, there probably would be no more Jags.

So, what Proton did with the Inspira was merely keeping up with the present trend in the automotive scene. It makes business sense for them given the Inspira's expected sales volume and market segment. Zizie should tell Bung to shut up.