It is an open secret that Proton/DRB would want to utilize the engine family bought from Petronas into its stablemate of cars, which potentially can extend to small capacity version of Lotus cars if we think realistically. This is to fully capitalize on the range of technology bought from Petronas for meagre RM63million. Petronas has spent years and years in developing engine know-how with its tied-up with Sauber Petronas Engineering and other associated technology partner, and exhaustively nurtured a world-class engineers before calling it a day some years back. The engine technology was sold to DRB in December last year.
One of the first car destined to receive the engine is Proton Suprima S. We heard that the concept version of Proton Suprima 2.0L will be showcased at Kuala Lumpur International Motor Show. While we are not sure if this is Proton Suprima R/R3 people are talking about, but surely this is not the hottest of the Petronas engine available. Petronas NE01 modular engine family is available from 1.8L to 2.2L of displacement, with the forced-fed induction integration also available for use. Perhaps the naturally-aspirated 2.0L is the leading case to gauge the market before the rest of the line-up get deployed to the other variants. It is also heard that the engine is already in the final phase of testing whereby mass production stage is as close as ever.
*Photo above is from Theopilus Chin - a rendering of Proton Suprima R
No comments:
Post a Comment