Proton Juara

The Proton Juara is a microvan/mini MPV produced by the Malaysian automobile manufacturer Proton between 2001 and 2004. It was launched on 22 July 2001 as Proton’s first non-saloon, hatchback or coupé model. The Juara was to be jointly developed by Proton and Mitsubishi Motors as an export model under the Mitsubishi badge. However, its poor reception and slow sales led to an early end to its production in 2004.
The first sketches of a Proton MPV existed as early as the 1990s, during the dawn of the MPV era. During this period, all of Proton's offerings were either saloon, hatchback or coupe vehicles. Proton began development of their first MPV, then codenamed 'Proton RGW', in late 1999. It was based on the Mitsubishi Town Box Wide platform, which Proton had intended to re-engineer over 2 or 3 years to suit different tastes. Mitsubishi Motors had also expressed intentions to rebadge the re-engineered Proton version as a Mitsubishi car for export markets. The joint development had aimed to lower costs for both companies, where Proton would be spared from paying royalties to Mitsubishi for the use of their platforms, and Mitsubishi would save on production costs if Proton were to re-engineer cars for them. Proton officially announced their MPV plans to the public in early 2000, and by November that same year, the first prototype had been completed. Production of the MPV began in the second quarter of 2001 at the HICOM Automotive Manufacturers Malaysia plant in Pekan, Pahang....