Alfa Romeo. Maserati. BMW. Bugatti. Ferrari. Those are just a few of the nameplates with which the Giugaro name has been associated. You can now add Proton to the list. (Of course, the list also includes less luminescent brands like Hyundai, De Lorean, and Isuzu.)
Unless you’re a Lotus aficionado, you may have never heard of Proton—it is the majority stakeholder in Lotus—but the Malaysian manufacturer is aiming to change that. These concepts, which celebrate the brand’s 25th anniversary, are intended to signal “worldwide ambitions.” The name “Emas” is Malay for “gold,” and also stands for Eco Mobility Advanced Solutions. The Eco part of the name is represented by the various possible powertrains, which include plug-in hybrid and pure-electric systems. The plug-in hybrid system was developed by Lotus and mates a 51-hp, 1.2-liter three-cylinder engine with a 101-hp electric motor and an 11.5-kWh lithium-ion battery pack.
There were three cars on display at the Geneva auto show, but only one was mostly real. That would be the Emas Comfort, a four-seat, five-door hatchback that Giugaro and Proton say delivers the interior volume of a D-segment car or crossover—think Mazda 6 or CX-7—in the exterior space of an A-segment city car. The Comfort is just 139.8 inches long, or about six inches shorter than a Mini Cooper. The interior is airy and bright, and has some fancy concept-car touches like door-grip-mounted button pods, but most of the technology isn’t too far out there, including an iPhone dock, USB inputs, a pair of large information screens on the dash, and a touch-screen center console for controlling car settings and the stereo. The last screen also offers internet browsing capability, for when you need to translate “Ciao, bella!” into Malay.
The other two concepts are at this point mere styling bucks with no interiors. One is the Emas Country, a more-rugged-looking, three-door, five-passenger version of the Comfort, while the other is the Emas3, a three-meter-long, electric-only city-car version of the platform that rides on a wheelbase reduced by almost 22 inches. The Emas3 would theoretically offer 3+1 seating, where the seat behind the driver would have reduced legroom.
Given these cars’ size and target audience, Proton’s “worldwide ambitions” likely mean extending its European footprint outside of the U.K., where it currently sells a few different models, for now. It’s unclear if the plans call for U.S. distribution—we’d hope for something a little more substantial than these small city cars if they do—but given its respectful stewardship and nurturing of Lotus, we’d trust the Malaysian company to deliver decent vehicles at this point far more than we would almost any Chinese company. We won’t pretend to prognosticate any further, but if Giugaro stays involved, at least Proton’s future will be stylish.
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