Proton was born as a national project, and its first car, the 1985 Saga, wore a badge lifted straight from the Malaysian flag. Today a Malayan tiger leads the way.
- Country
-
Malaysia - Active
- Since 1983
- Website
- Official website ↗
A car for a whole nation
Proton was never just a company. It was a national project. Malaysia’s Cabinet approved the National Car Project in November 1982, and on 7 May 1983 the company was incorporated. A few weeks later HICOM, the state heavy industries corporation, signed a joint venture agreement with Mitsubishi Motors Corporation and Mitsubishi Corporation.
The name is a contraction of Perusahaan Otomobil Nasional, Malay for national automobile company. Prime Minister Mahathir Mohamad had pushed hard for the idea, and on 9 July 1985 he watched the first Proton Saga roll off the line in Shah Alam. It was Malaysia’s first national car. Proton promoted it, then and for years after, as the Pride of the Nation.
Even the car’s name belonged to the public. A Name the National Car contest drew more than 102,000 entries, and judges picked Saga in 1984. The winning entry came from an army staff sergeant, Ismail Jaafar.
A star and a crescent on the grille
The first Proton badge borrowed straight from the Malaysian flag. A yellow crescent and a fourteen-pointed star sat inside a shield, and on the Saga the badge lit up. For a car sold as a source of national pride, it was the obvious choice.
In the early 1990s the crest was refined into a smaller shape with rounded edges, but the flag motif stayed. It carried on through the Wira and Perdana years.
Enter the Malayan tiger
The big change came in 2000 with the Waja. The star and crescent were gone. In their place was a tiger head on a green circle, set in a shield with the PROTON name in bold capitals. It was the first Proton badge used on cars for both home and export markets.
The tiger then changed in steps. In 2008, starting with the new Saga, the badge went monochrome. In 2016 the word PROTON disappeared from it, and the tiger grew larger and more three-dimensional.
On 24 September 2019 Proton unveiled the emblem it uses today, together with the tagline Inspiring Connections. The shield was removed, so the tiger is, in Proton’s own framing, uncaged. The head itself is bolder and more detailed, in a sleek silver finish. Proton tied the new logo to three core values: innovative technology, reliability and an international outlook. Its CEO at the time, Dr Li Chunrong, said it captured the company’s ambition to become a truly modern, global automotive brand. The locally assembled X70 was the first car to wear it.
The badge was designed in house. Azlan Othman, chief designer at Proton Design, told Marketing Interactive it took about two years from first brief to launch, and that the brief called for international appeal with elements that are distinctly Malaysian.
Sagas, Wajas and SUVs
Proton started out with Mitsubishi underpinnings and slowly learned to build its own platforms. The cars that carried each badge tell that story well.
Landmark Protons, decade by decade
- 1985: Saga. Malaysia’s first national car, based on the Mitsubishi Lancer Fiore and launched on 9 July 1985.
- 1993: Wira. A four-door saloon launched in May 1993, followed in October by a five-door Aeroback.
- 2000: Waja. According to Proton, the first fully locally developed Malaysian car, and the first to wear the tiger.
- 2009: Exora. Proton’s first in-house developed MPV.
- 2018: X70. Proton’s first premium SUV. The locally assembled version introduced the uncaged tiger in 2019.
- 2024: e.MAS 7. Launched in December 2024 as Proton’s first national battery electric vehicle.
Proton has had some famous partners. In 1996 it bought a controlling stake in British sports car maker Lotus. Since 2017 China’s Geely has been a partner shareholder alongside DRB-HICOM, and in 2022 Proton became the distributor of smart in Malaysia and Thailand. At home, it shares the roads with fellow Malaysian carmaker Perodua. For more on how emblems like this are shaped, see how car logos are designed.
Frequently asked questions
What animal is on the Proton logo?
A Malayan tiger. It replaced the star and crescent badge in 2000, and since 2019 it has appeared without a shield around it.
What does the name Proton stand for?
It comes from Perusahaan Otomobil Nasional, Malay for national automobile company.
Why was the first Proton badge a star and crescent?
It was taken from the Malaysian flag. The Saga was the country’s first national car, and the badge made that link plain.
When did Proton get its current logo?
Proton unveiled the uncaged tiger on 24 September 2019, along with the tagline Inspiring Connections. The locally assembled X70 was the first car to carry it.
Star, crescent and tiger: the Proton file
- Founded
- 1983
- Country
- Malaysia
- Headquarters
- Shah Alam, Malaysia
- Parent company
- DRB-HICOM (with Zhejiang Geely Holding Group as partner shareholder)
- Current emblem
- An uncaged Malayan tiger head without a shield, introduced in 2019
- Known for
- Malaysia's first national car, the Saga
- Website
- Official website ↗
