KUALA LUMPUR — Prime Minister Tun Dr Mahathir Mohamad said on Wednesday (Dec 12) that he hopes the newly-launched Proton X70 SUV will be well-received by Malaysians.

In his keynote speech at the launch event, Dr Mahathir said the model is a recovery point for Proton.

“It is the first car of this design and specification from the Proton Stable and I'm confident that it will be well-received by Malaysians," he said.

“Proton is making progress and I would like to congratulate the people in Proton and their partner from Geely.

“It is quite obvious that teaming up with Geely that Proton has made some progress,” he said at the ceremony held at the Kuala Lumpur Convention Centre.

The launch of the X70 is also the first since the strategic partnership between Proton Holdings and Chinese car manufacturer Geely, which owns a 49.9 per cent stake in the Malaysian car maker.

Dr Mahathir also said he was impressed with the level of sophistication and technological advances that went in to the car such as advanced security features, voice command and even an internal SIM card to connect directly to the internet.

Although Dr Mahathir noted that the SUV was not produce entirely by Malaysia, he hoped Proton would continue to produce top of the line cars that would Malaysians proud, with its strategic partner Geely “nudging it forward”.

All the variants of the model are powered by a 1.8 litre TGDi turbocharged four-cylinder petrol engine producing 135 kw of power and 285 Nm of torque. MALAY MAIL