Honda denies future collaboration plans with Proton

Kuala Lumpur: Honda has denied any future collaboration with the second largest national carmaker Proton. The Japanese automaker was earlier in collaboration with Proton, but now it has made clear that it will not be collaborating on further models beyond the current Proton Perdana based on the eight-generation Honda Accord.

Noriake Abe, Honda’s COO of Regional Operations for Asia & Pacific revealed this information while talking to the Malaysian press on the sidelines at the 2015 Tokyo Motor Show. Honda's COO said that, the automaker’s will not longer expand it's support to Proton beyond the work involving in Perdana, and the company is not having any future plans with Proton to develop any other models.

Abe told reporters, “We have stopped other product development with Proton. Our involvement with Proton stops at the Perdana because we could not reach an agreement with Proton on several key issues”.

Earlier in October 2012, Proton announced it's collaboration agreement with Honda so that they can explore more opportunities in the areas of technology enhancement, new product line up, and enhanced facilities in their cars.

Proton following the agreement announced that the all new Perdana which is based on the previous-gen Honda Accord is only for the use of civil servants. The car will be produced for the government servants in the volume of just 3,000 units.

The company is also planning to launch the civil variant of the car, which was earlier spotted in the country. The 2016 Proton Perdana is all set to go on sale early next year. This new variant for the general audience of Malaysia will sit on eight-gen Accord underpinnings but feature a new exterior. The car has been already showcased by the company earlier this year at the Alami Proton event.

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Our sources have confirmed that the all-new 2016 Perdana will be built at Proton’s Medium Volume Factory in Shah Alam (the current government-use version is assembled at Honda Malaysia’s plant in Melaka). The car will be powered by the standard Honda 2.0 litre and 2.4-litre i-Vtech engines. The 2.0 Litre R20A3 will be producing a 154 hp and 189 Nm. While the 2.4 litre, K24Z2 variant will churn out a 177 hp and 222 Nm. Both the variants will be coupled with a five-speed automatic transmission.

Apart from this announcement, Proton and Suzuki has signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) and Licence Agreement. According to which Proton will be able to access Suzuki’s models, platforms, powertrain and automotive technology.

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