KUALA LUMPUR, Feb 12 — National carmaker Proton Holdings Bhd (Proton) today officially launched the X70 CKD (completely knocked down) version with five main upgrades.

Upgrades related to the power train are a further refined 1.8-litre turbocharged direct injection (TGDi) petrol engine and a new dual wet clutch.

The car manufacturer introduced a new seven-speed dual-clutch transmission (7-DCT) to the locally-assembled 2020 X70 model to replace the six-speed automatic transmission (6AT) of the outgoing complete built-up (CBU) model.

The 7-DCT, a proprietary product of Zhejiang Geely Holding Group (Geely), was developed in collaboration with Volvo.

The 1.8L TGDi engine puts out 181 horsepower (135 kilowatts) at 5,500 revolutions per minute (rpm) when combined with the dual wet clutch, improving the torque by five per cent to 300 Newton metres (Nm) at 1,750-4,000 rpm, and lowering the combined cycle fuel consumption by 13 per cent to 7.6 litres per 100 km.

Three other upgrades to the chart-topping sport utility vehicle (SUV) are a power tailgate with foot sensor, front ventilated seats and rear reclining seats.

The upgrades were tested during a media test drive session from here to Kuantan last week.

Four variants are offered — Standard 2WD (RM94,800 on-the-road without insurance), Executive 2WD (RM106,800), Premium 2WD (RM119,800) and Premium X 2WD (RM122,800), which comes with a panoramic sunroof.

All variants have been awarded a five-star ASEAN NCAP crash safety rating and come with an intelligent infotainment head unit based on Geely’s Global Key User Interface (GKUI), with “Hi Proton” voice commands via embedded e-sim that enables connection to the internet via a mobile data plan.

The available colours are snow white, armour silver, jet grey, ruby red, cinnamon brown and a new colour — space grey.

Proton vehicle programme executive (engineering and technical) Shariffudin Mustaffa, met on the sidelines of the test drive session, told Bernama the new transmission is capable of further boosting the X70's class-leading efficiency.

“The 7-DCT, with its enhanced power and acceleration response, gives the new model better drivability. The dual wet clutch also offers better launch response, plus faster, smoother and more efficient gear shifting and improved uphill driving torque,” said Shariffudin, who is head of the X70 SUV project.

Shariffudin said production of the locally-assembled X70 SUV is proceeding smoothly at the car manufacturer's Tanjung Malim plant in Perak.

“With a maximum capacity of 150,000 units per annum on multi-model production lines, the state-of-the-art manufacturing facility at Tanjung Malim has no problem in meeting any spike in local demand,” added Shariffudin.

The marque’s first-ever SUV model, based on Geely's Boyue, has been marketed locally since late 2018 as a fully-imported CBU vehicle.

The Proton-Geely partnership has sold nearly 29,000 of the CBU units to date.

The X70, the most popular premium C-segment SUV in Malaysia last year, was named the Overall Car of the Year 2019 and bagged the Midsize Crossover/Sports Utility Vehicles 5 Seaters category at the 18th Malaysia Cars of the Year awards last month. — Bernama