Proton Coupé. Not the kind of name that would have customers crammed against the dealership windows like a scene from a zombie survival movie, and based on the data from How Many Left, it looks like only around 500 or 600 people took those final steps inside the dealership while the car was on sale between 1997 and 2000.
Maybe, though, that’s a bit of a shame. After all, the Coupé wasn’t a bad looking device by any means, just one that didn’t quite inspire in an era of much more dramatic coupé shapes, such as the Ford Puma, Alfa GTV, Fiat Coupé, and Vauxhall Tigra.
The Proton’s Mitsubishi Lancer Coupé bones counted against it here, the Japanese version having debuted in 1991 and already looking old by the late 1990s – in fact, Mitsubishi itself had entirely replaced the coupé in its range with an all-new model two years before the UK got the Proton version.
Today, the play-it-safe styling is arguably less of a concern – it simply looks like a handsome and well-proportioned two-door shape, one that thanks to its ’90s Japanese roots is basically a blank canvas for tasteful modifications.
We’re getting ahead of ourselves, though, something Proton couldn’t be accused of with this ad. The brand simply wanted to sell you on the details, and while it’s easy to smirk at a 133bhp twin-cam engine being the primary selling point (you could already get 157bhp from a 1.6-litre Honda Civic by then), anyone with petrol in their veins might have raised an eyebrow at the prospect of multi-link rear suspension or a set of bona-fide Recaro seats.
The Coupé would even enjoy a brief foray into motorsport, unrelated to its links with rallying specialists Mitsubishi; in the late 1990s and early 2000s, there was a manufacturer-backed Proton Coupé Cup. While it lasted only a few years, like the car it was based on, the Coupé looked fantastic as a racer, hunkered down to the ground over a set of chunky five-spoke Dymag wheels.
Even the road cars were solid performers. A kerb weight of 1075kg helped that 133bhp Mitsubishi-sourced 1.8 propel the Proton to 62mph in nine seconds flat, a few tenths off a Puma but better than a Vauxhall Tigra or SEAT Cordoba coupé. And it was less expensive than any of them – at £13,999, it undercut the Puma 1.7 by more than 500 quid.
Proton then launched an Evolution 16v model, taking inspiration from the racer with a set of 15-inch Momo wheels and with the option to “chip” it up to a more ’90s-appropriate 150bhp. It actually arrived at the same price as the outgoing Coupé, while the regular model enjoyed a thousand pound discount just as its rivals were getting more expensive.
Reviews were warm, if not glowing; Autocar noted in August 1997 that “understeer is easily and smoothly changed to a whiff of oversteer by gently lifting off”, while Top Gear magazine said in May 1999 of the special Motorsport Coupé, a road-going promo to preview the Evolution, that “performance is enhanced enough to give most GTIs a run for their money” – the boost to 150bhp dropped the 0–62mph down to an impressive 7.5 seconds.
So yes, it’s a shame so few have survived. Once again peeking at How Many Left, the Evolution looks to have made up around a fifth of the Coupés sold back in the day, but a larger percentage of those that remain: There are apparently 10 regular Coupés left on the road and seven Evolutions.
If you have one, or owned one back in the day, do let us know about it in the comments. We’d love to know what it was that made you take the hint.
