Proton Eyes Glory With 3 Category Win, Persona The Highlight

From P.Santhia Thevi BRIGHTON (England), Nov 5 (Bernama) -- Malaysian carmaker Proton is eyeing for glory at the 2011 Brighton to London Future Car Challenge on Saturday with the first time entry of the Persona Range-Extended Electric Vehicle (REEV) -- the first totally Proton built vehicle. The Royal Automobile Club's future car challenge is not a race but a new challenge to showcase emerging green technologies such as electric, hybrid, and other forms of low-emission propulsion. It will see the most efficient and least energy consuming cars in different categories in the challenge scheduled to start at 7.30am local time (3.30pm in Malaysia) from Madeira Drive, Brighton, to Pall Mall & Regent Street, London. The national carmaker which will be entering three cars this year -- the Saga EV, Exora REEV and Persona Elegance REEV -- won the "Best Range Extender EV" award last year with the Exora REEV. The cars were developed in partnership with United Kingdom-based Frazer Nash Research Ltd, a research and development company specialising in electric vehicle powertrains. Despite the cold and wet weather, preparations for the challenge went well with the Proton team busy scrutinising the cars for the final time. Group Project Leader, Prototype Group, Green Technology Department, Shahril Nizam Abdul Aziz said Proton was confident to grab the awards for all three categories this year. The team which arrived late evening at Brighton was still busy checking and charging the three category cars when members of the Malaysian media were brought to witness the preparation. Speaking of the Persona, he said the Malaysian Proton team took about eight days to set up. "The Malaysian engineers removed the parts and components from the Exora REEV and installed it in the Persona. The process ended two weeks ago with five days to do all that and three days for testing at the Proton UK in Bristol. "Unlike the Exora and Saga which had Fraser-Nash and Proton experts setting up, the Persona REEV was purely set up by Malaysians," he said. Meanwhile, Muhammad Zulfadzli Che Mustafar, the pilot for the Persona and Proton Lead Engineer (Head of REEV) Vehicle Integration HEV, Green Technology Department, said he was proud to drive the historic Persona and was confident to win the challenge. "Being part of a challenge that will lift Malaysia's name, adds to my confidence for the challenge," he said. The winning vehicles will be identified during the display in Regent Street while the awards will be presented at the formal FCC Awards Dinners in the evening at the Royal Automobile Club, Pall Mall, London. -- BERNAMA