Proton by Giugiaro

After years travelling in the technical wake of the world's mainstream car companies, Malaysian car maker, Proton, has enlisted Italian and English help to catch up in a hurry.

It has arrived at the Geneva Motor Show with not one, but two cutting-edge series-type hybrid drive concept cars from Italian design legends, ItalDesign-Giugiaro.

Designed to give a mid-sized, SUV-style cabin space in a small, A-segment body, the two new concept cars use a sandwich-style false floor to house the hybrid's battery system.

Yet, while Proton turned to the Italian styling powerhouse for the design concept, it turned to its own, in-house engineering consultancy, Lotus, for the drivetrain.
It is powered by an almost omnivorous 1.2-litre, three-cylinder petrol engine, but it can also operate equally well on ethanol or methanol. That provides energy to recharge the Lithium-Ion batteries housed in the cabin's floor, which power a front-mounted electric motor to drive the front wheels.

While the main focus will be on the as-yet unnamed city car, there is also a crossover to whet the appetite for the Malaysian Government-owned company, which has long failed to fulfill its promise.

While the raised cabin floor could have been an impediment, Giugiaro has used it to provide a seat hip-point that is at exactly the normal standing height for most people.

Due to be unveiled on March 2 in Geneva, the five-door city car has four identical seats, all of which slide back and forward independently, yet the entire car is just 3.5 metres long – just half a metre longer than the original, two-door MINI and shorter than the 2010 version.

The Crossover version is the same length, but with a slightly higher ground clearance, plus five seats instead of the standard concept's four, even though it's only a three-door vehicle.

"This is the outcome of several years of study. The solution allows interior spaciousness on a par with a D-segment sedan, despite maintaining the exterior dimensions of an A-segment car," Giorgetto Giugiaro, Chairman of ItalDesign-Giugiaro, said.

"You could say that it is a brand new type of car; a new automotive concept where looks are as important as function, ergonomics and comfort, not to mention environmental impact.

"It is higher than other compact cars to make the best use of the interior space, the seat's H-point is the same height as the passengers' hips. You do not get down into your car as in a coupe and you don't climb up as in an SUV. You enter in a natural way.

"The rear seat comfort when you enter and leave the car is absolutely unprecedented, and the distance from the front seat is comparable to that of an SUV," Giugiaro said.

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