The Proton Tiara is a

Malaysia Malaysia ( ; ) is a country in Southeast Asia. The federation, federal constitutional monarchy consists of States and federal territories of Malaysia, thirteen states and three federal territories, separated by the South China Sea into two r ...

automobile A car or automobile is a motor vehicle with Wheel, wheels. Most definitions of ''cars'' say that they run primarily on roads, Car seat, seat one to eight people, have four wheels, and mainly transport private transport#Personal transport, pe ...

based on the

Citroën AX The Citroën AX is a supermini which was built by the French manufacturer Citroën from 1986 to 1998. It was launched at the 1986 Paris Motor Show to replace the Citroën Visa and Citroën LNA. Overview Development of this model started in 19 ...

, built under licence by the

automobile manufacturer The automotive industry comprises a wide range of companies and organizations involved in the design, development, manufacturing, marketing, and selling of motor vehicles. It is one of the world's largest industries by revenue (from 16 % such ...

Proton A proton is a stable subatomic particle, symbol , H+, or 1H+ with a positive electric charge of +1 ''e'' elementary charge. Its mass is slightly less than that of a neutron and 1,836 times the mass of an electron (the proton–electron mass ...

between 1996 and 2000.

History

The genesis of the Tiara was the result of an agreement during the mid 1990s, between Proton's then

CEO A chief executive officer (CEO), also known as a central executive officer (CEO), chief administrator officer (CAO) or just chief executive (CE), is one of a number of corporate executives charged with the management of an organization especially ...

Yahaya Ahmad Tan Sri Yahaya bin Ahmad (11 August 1947 – 2 March 1997) was the founder, chairman and chief executive officer of the DRB-HICOM Group of Malaysia. He was famously known as Malaysia's "Car Czar". Biography Yahaya Ahmad was born on 11 August 1 ...

, and

PSA Peugeot Citroën The PSA Group (), legally known as Peugeot S.A. (Peugeot Société Anonyme, trading as Groupe PSA; formerly known as PSA Peugeot Citroën from 1991 to 2016) was a French multinational automotive manufacturing company which produced automobiles ...

, a producer of

Citroën Citroën () is a French automobile brand. The "Automobiles Citroën" manufacturing company was founded in March 1919 by André Citroën. Citroën is owned by Stellantis since 2021 and previously was part of the PSA Group after Peugeot acquired ...

and

Peugeot Peugeot (, , ) is a French brand of automobiles owned by Stellantis. The family business that preceded the current Peugeot companies was founded in 1810, with a steel foundry that soon started making hand tools and kitchen equipment, and the ...

vehicles. Yahaya had expressed wishes that Proton did not use

Mitsubishi The is a group of autonomous Japanese multinational companies in a variety of industries. Founded by Yatarō Iwasaki in 1870, the Mitsubishi Group historically descended from the Mitsubishi zaibatsu, a unified company which existed from 1870 ...

platforms, and that Proton cooperated with PSA Peugeot Citroën for access to its diesel engines. In April 1996, Proton began a separate joint venture with PSA to build the Tiara called USPD (Usahasama Proton DRB Sdn. Bhd.). Yahaya Ahmad was killed in a helicopter crash in 1997, and Proton returned to using various Mitsubishi based platforms and developed in house designed models later. Production of the Tiara ceased in 2000, due to low sales volume; in June 2005, the

Proton Savvy The Proton Savvy is a supermini hatchback produced by Malaysian carmaker Proton. The car was introduced in June 2005, as an indirect successor to Proton Tiara. It was discontinued in 2011 due to slow sales compared to the Perodua Myvi. Hist ...

was launched, as an indirect successor to the Proton Tiara or Citroën AX.

Design and market

The appearance of the Tiara mimicked that of more powerful Citroën AXs, such as the AX GT, but the grille was restyled to match the existing

Saga is a series of science fantasy role-playing video games by Square Enix. The series originated on the Game Boy in 1989 as the creation of Akitoshi Kawazu at Square (video game company), Square. It has since continued across multiple platforms, ...

and Wira models. Other cosmetic differences included different bumpers and taillight clusters. It was only available with a 1.1 litre engine, paired with a five speed

manual Manual may refer to: Instructions * User guide * Owner's manual * Instruction manual (gaming) * Online help Other uses * Manual (music), a keyboard, as for an organ * Manual (band) * Manual transmission * Manual, a bicycle technique similar to ...

. The Tiara sold in two variants, the material coloured bumper 1.1 GL and full body paint 1.1 GLi, and came with six colour options; silver, red, royal blue, dark green, greenish blue and grey. The Proton Tiara was sold only in the Malaysian market, as the license restricted Proton from exporting the car.

References

{{commons category, Proton Tiara

Tiara A tiara (from la, tiara, from grc, τιάρα) is a jeweled head ornament. Its origins date back to ancient Greece and Rome. In the late 18th century, the tiara came into fashion in Europe as a prestigious piece of jewelry to be worn by women ...

2000s cars Cars introduced in 1996 ID:Citroën AX