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The 2024 Proton S70 is now officially launched, earlier than the expected December date. Unlike previous Geely-Proton models, the gestation period for the new sedan was pretty short. First official details and images surfaced on November 1, and the media preview happened shortly after that.
The Proton S70 comes in four variants, and they are the Executive, Premium, Flagship and Flagship X (Standard variant name dropped). The entry-level Executive kicks off the range at RM73,800, while the Premium sells for RM79,800. For many, the Flagship is where the S70 range truly starts, and it’s yours for RM89,800. If you want a sunroof, dashcam and the exclusive Quartz Black paint, the Flagship X is priced at RM94,800. All are on-the-road without insurance.
As expected, the S70’s price range puts in right smack in Honda City and Toyota Vios territory, and those two are household names in the B-segment sedan market. But Proton is calling the S70 a C-segment sedan, with a ’70’ badge to match.
So, is the S70 a B- or C-segment sedan? Well, it’s based on the Geely Emgrand, which sits on the X50’s BMA platform, and the car has a 1.5 litre NA engine/CVT combo elsewhere – 1.5L CVT is of course the ASEAN B-segment default set by the Toyota Vios and Honda City.
In fact, everyone thought that car codenamed SS11 would be called ‘Proton S50’ till we saw spyshots of the S70 badge last month. The pricing of the S70 is also squarely within the City-Vios space, and the two class stalwarts were chosen as rivals in the media preview acceleration test.
It’s a B then. But Proton complicates things (by design, I’m sure) by giving the sedan the ’70’ name. Officially, Proton is calling this a C-segment sedan, and ’70’ ties in with the X70, a C-SUV. The carmaker has also plonked in a 1.5 litre turbo engine and dual-clutch gearbox in place of the 1.5L NA CVT that powers the Emgrand in China and the Philippines. Think 1.5T, think Honda Civic, right?
According to the brochure, the S70 is 4,602 mm long and 1,809 mm wide, with a 2,627 mm wheelbase. Strangely, these are lower than the Emgrand’s numbers. Based on Proton’s figures, the S70 is just 13 mm longer than the Honda City RS and 61 mm wider, with a wheelbase that’s 27 mm longer.
By the way, the S70 is longer and wider than the Preve and Mitsubishi Lancer-based Inspira, Proton’s previous two C-segment sedans. Speaking of those models, Proton says that the S70 follows the lineage of the Wira, Waja and Preve.
The S70 gets turbo power instead of the Emgrand’s standard 1.5L NA unit, and the turbo engine in question is the 1.5-litre port-injected three-cylinder engine that powers the X50 Standard to Premium, and not the 177 PS/255 Nm 1.5L TGDi unit in the X50 Flagship and X70 MC. Like in the non-Flagship X50, the 1.5L MPI unit’s output is 150 PS and 226 Nm of torque from 1,750 to 4,000 rpm in the S70.
In the switch from left- to right-hand drive (steering now perfectly centred in front of the driver by the way, no longer offset like in the X50/X70), the S70 project saw the development of 453 new parts with the involvement of 283 local suppliers, Proton says. The sedan has 145 knocked down (KD) parts and 24 in-house Proton developed parts. Of course, the engine is made in Malaysia. A total of 260,000 man hours were utilised.
Still, the target is to reach 70% local content in a couple of years, deputy CEO Roslan Abdullah revealed at the media preview. That’s nowhere near the over 90% local content of Perodua models from launch, and non-national models probably source more from Malaysia. This is not of concern to the customer, of course, and we only spotted one Geely logo on the fleet of pre-production cars – on the sunroof.
The most obvious change from the Emgrand is the S70’s grille, which combines the ‘Infinite Weave’ and ‘Ethereal Bow’ cues from past Geely-Protons to form an elaborate yet neat grille with pins. The side edges of the grille are blacked out to emphasise the Ethereal Bow (lower border), and Proton’s new round tiger badge floats in the middle. To us, it’s a handsome face and one that’s much better looking than the Emgrand, which has vertical lines in its grille.
Everything else is as per the Geely, including G20 BMW 3 Series-style ‘side intakes’, the two-tone 17-inch wheels, the slightly jarring protrusion of chrome from the A pillars and the fancy rear LED full-width signatures.
Speaking of the rear lights, they perform a show when you unlock the car and appear to be naturally ‘smoked’ even in daylight. We’re also wondering why the smart entry button on the driver’s door handle is in chrome, and not hidden away in body colour. There’s no button on the passenger side by the way, and it’s a downgrade from the touch sensor on Proton’s SUVs.
If the exterior is largely Emgrand bar the grille and rear Proton badge, the interior is a deluxe version of the sedan compared to what’s available in the Philippines, and to a lesser degree, China. The default gear lever is a conventional tall stick, but Proton is offering the stubby ‘T-design’ electronic shifter from the X90, which looks way more advanced and premium.
More parts sharing with existing Protons (which are not from the original Emgrand) can be seen in the steering wheel from the X50. Also, the sedan’s cabin is peppered with a soft material that has a songket-inspired pattern. You can find this S70-exclusive trim on the dashboard and door armrests – it’s a nice touch.
The most important aspect of the local input is none other than the well-regarded ‘Proton ride and handling’. The carmaker says that the S70 is tuned for Malaysian roads and the R&D team spent 75,000 man hours and drove a combined 1.2 million km of development miles. Typically, Chinese cars are softly sprung and comfort-oriented to suit the local palate, but Malaysians drive faster and require more control, more dynamics. With regards to ride and handling, Proton engineers claim that they managed to improved both comfort and stability.
The S70 will come in four variants, but we’ll call it ‘3+’. Unlike the X50, there’s no Standard variant, and the sedan’s range starts from Executive. The mid-level spec is Premium and the top one is the Flagship. The Flagship X makes it four, but the only difference the ‘X’ brings is a sunroof and an exclusive Quartz Black paint option.
All variants have the same 1.5T 7DCT powertrain, six airbags, lane change assist and an electronic parking brake with auto hold. The Executive comes with fabric seats, halogen headlamps, 16-inch wheels and an 8.0-inch head unit. To get LED headlamps (projectors) and tail lamps, you’ll have to buy the Premium, which also adds on leatherette upholstery, auto air-con and a reverse camera. We also noticed that trim on the front lip, the ‘side air intake’ surrounds and the rear bumper horizontal strip are in silver from the Premium onwards (black in Exec).
The LED headlamps have been standard on the Perodua Myvi since 2017, and even a RM40k Axia gets them, so the base S70 is nowhere near C-segment in terms of equipment. There’s also no full ADAS and AEB at the midpoint – Lane Change Assist (blind spot warning), Door Opening Warning, Rear Collision Warning and Rear Cross Traffic Alert are standard across the board.
Proton is once again reserving the full driver assist pack for the Flagship. The comprehensive ADAS suite adds on Autonomous Emergency Braking with Forward Collision Warning, Adaptive Cruise Control with Stop & Go, Lane Departure Warning and Prevention, Lane Centring Control, Traffic Sign Information and Intelligent High Beam Control. By the way, ADAS is not available on the Emgrand, so this is yet another Proton-exclusive feature. Five stars in the ASEAN NCAP crash test, by the way.
The Flagship also gets a tyre pressure monitoring system, the 17-inch two-tone alloys you see here, the cockpit’s dual screen setup (10.3-inch meter, 12.3-inch infotainment with Hi Proton), wireless charger, powered driver’s seat (none of the B-segment players have this) and 360-degree camera with 3D display.
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