Wow it's been a long time since the Thoughts-Rants section was posted on the blog and what more appropriate time to blog after blogging about the c210 in a 1 month period. I decided to blog about my thoughts and rants very soon after Proton decided to launch their new Saga FL 1.6L Executive. What triggered me to rant more about Proton wasn't my deep sense of hatred nor was my great sense of patriotism towards Malaysian made cars, but rather about its colour schemes in its palette offerings.
Before I had actually started ranting about Proton's range of colours, I was actually ranting about this Saga FL 1.6L Executive name. It was only a few moments ago that i actually posted about it in FB. The name "Executive" is rather ironic which is quite obvious since this is a B-segment car. I would have understood if company executives drove this as their roundabout cars but for executive use? I highly doubt it.. it'll make more sense if it was a Perdana.
Now back to the topic. As much as I have respect for Proton in their efforts to regain back the Malaysian consumer's confidence, I'm a little skeptical in our local homegrown designers that are hired by Proton. One of the things that I've observed so far in the past 2 to 3 years are the selection of white themes for their product offerings such as the 25th anniversary Proton models that are in white, the Saga FL concept - white, all of the Proton Concepts during KLIMS 2010 and the new Saga FL 1.6L Exec. Why am I ranting about this? White I believe, is a pretty tricky colour to apply and implement as a signature colour for the brands identity. If you get it wrong, it get's pretty boring, because majority of cars on the road today are either Black, Silver, Grey or White which can be very dull thus have very little impact of standing out in the crowd. On the other hand if you get it right, it might just be very rewarding to the brands image. The colour white, time symbolises purity which requires good-clean cut design and strong contrast colours for it to stand out. Therefore, if the colour does not match the vehicles clean design, it wouldn't fit very well.. especially on rather messy designed cars.
Cars that contrast it well and have formed their identity by its colour add some bits of contrasting colours that are obvious to look at. Take for example the Honda Civic Type-R FD2. It's theme does somehow seem to relate pretty much with the Saga (the white and red theme).
Honda Civic Type-R FD2
What really is special about the Civic though, are its white wheels, red badges and its brake calipers. By just adding a red stripe however, would not be enough to provide a stronger visual appearance on the Saga. One of the effective and best looking combinations was the Gen 2 which had a striking visual impact by adding grey/black wheels and a painted black avantgarde like roof. I think the best examples of white cars can be found on a selected bunch of European cars such as the Golf Gti, Gallardo and even Audi A6 Coupe. Nevertheless i think Malaysian car designers, especially in Proton still need to have a higher standard of taste, style and a bit more professionalism in my opinion.. I would consider some "editions" to be half baked by adding bits and pieces which clearly shows how they had not include excellence in their work. So, white protons? they don't really cut it or hit its spot since they've taken bold decisions before this such as the Aqua Turquoise colour for the Gen2 and Saga. They should really reconsider the colour white if they could improve on it. Honda has successfully done it with their Type-R models. =P
Proton Gen 2 CPS M-Line
Lamborghini Gallardo LP560
Vw Golf GTI
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