PROTON cars are celebrating the arrival of their 100,000th car into Britain - a newly launched 1.8 litre Coupe.

A 31 per cent rise in registrations to the end of August this year has helped the Malaysian marque to reach this landmark sooner than expected. A total of 7,457 Proton cars have been sold in the UK in 1997, compared with 5,747 cars during the same period last year.

The brand made its debut in Britain in 1989 and rapidly established itself as the fastest selling new make of car ever to be launched here.

The original Mpi Saloon and Aeroback have since given way to modern Compact three door and Persona four/five door models with a turbodiesel and four petrol engine options, plus an elegant new Coupe.

Great Britain remains Proton's most important export market and the marque's future success, together with the style and content of its multi-faceted new model development programme, will be heavily influenced by Lotus, the British sport car and engineering company now owned by Proton.

"We've come a long way in a short time," says Tony Oliver, Managing Director of Proton Cars (UK) Ltd., "but in Malaysia, Proton is about to launch into a new era of growth with manufacturing capability to produce at least half a million cars a year as the next century begins. The impact on Europe is likely to be even greater in the years to come." For more details on Proton locally, contact Arrowebrook Motors.

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