Proton has revealed the name of its upcoming electric vehicle (EV) brand, and it is the eMas (stylised as e.MAS). The spelling is deliberate, leading in lower case followed by capitalised letters. The automaker says the acronym stands for Electrifying Malaysia, combining the ‘e’ symbol to denote EVs with the MAS abbreviation that is universally used for the country.
What we already know about the Malaysian carmaker’s first production battery-electric vehicle is that it will be launched here before the year is out, and that it will be based on the Geely Galaxy E5, as suggested from the teaser image for the contest, which visibly showed the SUV’s roof rails and slim headlights in the outline.
The E5 was already widely touted to be the donor car for Proton’s EV, given that it has reportedly been developed with right-hand-drive markets in mind. This lines up with earlier comments by Proton deputy CEO Roslan Abdullah, who stated that the national carmaker’s first EV would not be an adaptation of an existing – and LHD – model.
The E5 sits on the Global Intelligent New Energy Architecture (GEA), a development of Geely’s Sustainable Experience Architecture (SEA) that supports not just full EVs, but also range extender, plug-in hybrid and methanol powertrains.
The reveal comes after the automaker held a contest for participants to guess the name of its upcoming EV model. If you’ve delved into the national carmaker’s archives for clues and guessed right in the naming contest, congratulations on striking gold. The name itself has actually been seen before, appearing more than a decade ago when it was used for a trio of electrified city car concepts for the 2010 Geneva Motor Show, namely the EMAS, EMAS Country and EMAS3 which were designed as petrol range-extender EVs.
The automaker also announced during the name reveal event the appointment of the first 17 Proton EV dealers, who formalised their agreements in a ceremony earlier today. The company added that it is aiming to have 30 outlets in place by 2025, growing the network further beyond that timeframe according to need
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