The Proton Tiara is a

Malaysia Malaysia is a country in Southeast Asia. Featuring the Tanjung Piai, southernmost point of continental Eurasia, it is a federation, federal constitutional monarchy consisting of States and federal territories of Malaysia, 13 states and thre ...

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

based on the Citroën AX, built under licence by the automobile manufacturer

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

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,

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

, and

PSA Peugeot Citroën Peugeot S.A., trading as Groupe PSA () (formerly PSA Peugeot Citroën from 1991 to 2016) was a French multinational automotive manufacturing company which produced automobiles and motorcycles under the Peugeot, Citroën, DS, Opel and Vauxhal ...

, a producer of

Citroën Citroën ()The double-dot diacritic over the 'e' is a diaeresis () indicating the two vowels are sounded separately, and not as a diphthong. is a French automobile brand. The "Automobiles Citroën" manufacturing company was founded on 4 June 19 ...

and

Peugeot Peugeot (, , ) is a French automobile brand owned by Stellantis. The family business that preceded the current Peugeot companies was established in 1810, making it the oldest car company in the world. On 20 November 1858, Émile Peugeot applie ...

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 traces its origins to the Mitsubishi zaibatsu, a unified company that existed from 1870 to 194 ...

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 recycled Mitsubishi based platforms and parts 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 2013 due to slow sales compared to the Perodua Myvi. History ...

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 Sagas are prose stories and histories, composed in Iceland and to a lesser extent elsewhere in Scandinavia. The most famous saga-genre is the (sagas concerning Icelanders), which feature Viking voyages, migration to Iceland, and feuds between ...

and

Wira Wira may refer to: * WIRA, a radio station licensed to Fort Pierce, Florida, United States * Proton Wira The Proton Wira (lit. "hero") is a car manufactured by Malaysian automaker Proton from 1993 to 2009. Based on the fourth-generation Mitsub ...

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. 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.

Sales

References

{{commons category, Proton Tiara

Tiara A tiara (, ) is a head ornament adorned with jewels. Its origins date back to ancient Greco-Roman world. In the late 18th century, the tiara came into fashion in Europe as a prestigious piece of jewelry to be worn by women at formal occasions ...

2000s cars Cars introduced in 1996 Cars discontinued in 2000 ID:Citroën AX