Last weekend, we saw images and a video of the facelifted Proton Saga right opposite the Centre of Excellence headquarters, showing a major overhaul for the budget sedan. Now, rendering wizard Theophilus Chin has sought to remove the camouflage of this much-anticipated MC3 version, giving us some idea of what it might look like.
The prototype certainly hinted at a very extensive makeover – something that’s reflected in the render, showing an all-new front clip. The heavily-resculpted bonnet and the new grille with its horizontal slat was visible in the video, while the new bumper with T-shaped corner air inlets was adapted from the larger Geely-derived S70.
Theo’s choice for the headlights, however, was a bit controversial. The prototype was equipped with placeholder round lamps, meaning that completely new clusters are almost certainly on the cards. Theo went aggressive on the render by giving the trailing edge a forwards rake, not unlike the Saga FL – the first facelift for the Base Line Model (BLM) Saga – from 2010.
The result is a clunky look that is at odds with the organic design of the current Saga. The internals with their LED projectors, meanwhile, were again lifted from the S70; expect the real deal to have reflector units instead – similar to the 2022 Iriz and Persona facelifts – given the car’s budget bent.
No images of the interior have been shown, but the Saga MC3 is set to gain an even more extensive interior makeover – the prototype looked to have a freestanding instrument display instead of the usual hooded binnacle. Beyond the redesign, the car should finally receive driver assistance features such as autonomous emergency braking, given that a windscreen-mounted camera was spotted on the test mule.
Other details remain shrouded in secrecy. For one, we still don’t know whether the MC3 will soldier on with the same 1.3 litre VVT engine as before or utilise a Geely-sourced mill. It is also unclear whether this MC3 is a stop-gap facelift before an all-new model – based on a new AMA (likely standing for A-segment Modular Architecture) platform – debuts, or if this is the purported AMA-based model. The latter would be very disappointing considering it still uses much of the current long-in-the-tooth Saga.
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