It should come as no big surprise that the Proton Persona’s days are numbered. After all, non-identical twin sister car Iriz took its last breath in September this year, ending an 11-year run. Today’s Persona was launched in 2016, which makes it almost a decade old now, and a facelift surfaced in 2019. The most recent update was back in 2021.
We know that the Persona will not survive beyond this year because it did not appear in any of Proton’s future plan presentations at the Proton Tech Showcase, which opens to the public today at Proton’s Centre of Excellence (COE) in Shah Alam.
The Persona is not in the AMA platform plan, nor did it appear in the X/S series slides or GMA model strategy. The comprehensive briefing at the event’s media session touched on future models in Proton’s ‘university era’ that starts next year (2025 is the year P1 graduates from high school, CEO Li Chunrong said), but no Persona.
Another sign that the classic nameplate – which was also used in the UK in the Wira era – will be retired (temporarily?) is news of the i-GT engine family replacing all Campro VVT and GEP3 (1.5T in the X70, S70, previous X50) engines by 2026. The Persona and the now-departed Iriz shared a 1.6L VVT engine, with the hatchback also having a 1.3L option.
The Persona’s departure would leave a gap between the A-segment Saga and the ‘C-segment’ S70 sedans, in both size and price (RM25k between the top Saga and base S70).
There have been rumours of Proton fielding a cheaper S70 with a 1.5-litre naturally aspirated engine (currently turbo-only) to serve as a B-segment sedan and plug the said gap. This might sound strange, but bear in mind that the S70’s donor car – the Geely Emgrand – is powered by a 1.5L NA engine elsewhere, although that’s a direct injection unit and not a PFI like the latest Saga’s i-GT engine.
As for the transmission, Proton did mention that it’s “exploring a CVT with torque converter application,” so this rumoured ‘budget S70’ would be more of an ideal candidate than the Saga, which has just been launched with a regular Punch CVT in the Premium variant. Farewell, Persona.
GALLERY: 2022 Proton Persona Premium
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