It’s easy to brush off facelift exercises as cosmetic changes and specification enhancements because we can only appreciate what is before our eyes. But all facelift exercises, whether minor or major, brings about changes that run skin deep.
It is no different for the recently shown Proton Iriz facelift. Beyond the restyled exterior and enhanced specification(s) across the board, the national carmaker has improved no less than 367 components in the facelifted Iriz.
Proton claims that with the new improvements, the refreshed Iriz boasts improved braking performance, NVH levels and fuel consumption. Drivability and reliability are also said to have improved significantly compared to the older Iriz.
All these were achieved by leveraging on Proton’s partnership with Geely. With a partner that sold over 1.5 million cars in 2018, Proton was able to access Geely’s technical expertise and achieve better economies of scale in research and development as well as procurement.
For example, in China, certain Geely models uses the same Continuously Variable Transmission (CVT) sourced from Punch. Since the new partnership, Proton and Geely engineers were able to share resources and compare notes to further improve the CVT with their supplier, Punch.
As a result, the notorious delay of the Punch CVT is a story of the past as the Iriz is now equipped with a vastly improved version of the CVT that is smoother, more responsive and polished compared to the pre-facelift model.
It won’t be long till Proton announce the pricing details of the facelifted Iriz (said to happen sometime in March 2019) but on paper and in person, the refreshed hatchback with the improvements and new features certainly places it right up there with the competition.
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Proton Iriz Facelift Preview
