We caught up with the Design Director of Geely Design China, Guy Burgoyne and Proton chief designer Azlan Othman at KLIMS 2018 opening day and they candidly spoke to us about Proton’s next generation of vehicles starting with the MPV (please note that the new Proton MPV is still one year away from launch).
For those of you who did not know, Guy (on the left) has over 25 years of diverse global experience as an automotive designer. This has included design consultancy work at the beginning of his career in the UK, 11 years in Sweden with Volvo, Renault in France, General Motors in Australia and now with Geely in China. His portfolio ranges from Volvos first XC vehicle and floating centre stacks, to Renaults T series trucks theme definition and GM’s EN-V concept from the Shanghai World Expo 2010. Since joining Geely in 2012, he led the interior execution design of the GC-9 Borui, which was acclaimed as “the most beautiful Chinese Car”. Most recently he has delivered the Proton X70 with input from Azlan. Work on the X70 started almost a year ago and they are currently working on future projects.
Azlan also said that Proton is moving on with a new design philosophy with a focus on being progressive, harmonious and spirited. He added that Proton Design is now part of a global design family within Geely, which has studios in Gothenburg, Hangzhou Bay, UK, Barcelona and California. All this points to more exciting looking Proton’s (they have never been dull to start with) and better engineering for sure.
