Do not worry if you are a big fan of this crossover. It will come to Malaysia. When is the question and will the selling price be between RM81,000 to RM89,000 as predicted? We are just amazed with the social media excitement for this crossover, where there are already two (2) facebook pages for this crossover. The Proton X50 Community Malaysia (PX50CM) Group with 6,145 members and the Proton X50 Community Malaysia (X50CM) with 4,500 members.
There are more Malaysians on both these X50 FB page in comparison to some well established crossovers already selling in Malaysia.
So why the excitement and huge interest in this Geely produced crossover (yes the Proton X50 is a product of Geely and will be rebadged as a Proton when it arrives in Malaysia and possibly the ASEAN region)?
To start, this is a brand new Geely product and in China its called the Bin Yue.
Designed in Shanghai, China by a young and global design team, the Bin Yue’s design is based on Geely’s latest “Racing through Time” aesthetics. The team is lead by Jamie Liam Barret (Exterior Designer and part of the Volvo global design team). Sharp body curve, capturing the direction of the wind, help every adventure. Young fashion sense, confidence and speed of movement. Design concept based on the “Times of Racing Aesthetics”.
The Bin Yue sits on Geely’s new BMA architecture, measuring 4330×1800×1609mm, with a wheelbase of 2600mm. Geely engineers claims an impressive 68.7% wheelbase utilisation rate for the cabin, which should make for a compact, yet spacious proposition.
The biggest interest in this crossover is its drivetrain which is a 1.5L direct injection turbo petrol engine, co-developed with Volvo (Geely owns Volvo and so they are tapping into their own engineering resources to get the best), which is good for 130kW and 255Nm. Geely claims a 0-100km/h time in 7.9 seconds which is not too bad for a compact crossover. A 7-speed wet dual-clutch transmission is paired with the 1.5L turbo, which work together to deliver a combined city/highway fuel consumption rating of just 6.1L per 100km.
The model name was not even confirmed yet the star newspaper on the cover stated X50 a few days ago. Shocked me.