I attended Proton's Power of 1 event at Bukit Jalil, Kuala Lumpur recently. The event is a showcase of Proton's current and future automotive efforts. Proton has decided to show off its latest prototype car one month before its offcial launch but in a disguised form. This is even though it is already production ready.

This latest model, code named P3-21A is set to be the replacement of the Proton Persona and to an extent, the hatchback version which is the Proton Gen 2 (although no news of a hatchback variant as yet). In terms of size, it is similar to the Persona but it is slightly taller with a more rounded roof. And even though it has all those swirly stickers pasted on it one can tell that it is a little bit larger than the outgoing model.

Proton pitted this new prototype around its demonstration track against the Proton Persona. The Proton P3-21A (P321A) out-braked the Persona due to it having Electronic Brake Distribution and out-accelerated the Persona due to it having Proton's latest turbocharged 1.6liter engine (which will be used for the higher specced variants) that we've seen inside the Proton Exora Bold MPV. It also outperformed the Persona during the slalom course. Some could say that this was all a show put up by the Malaysian manufacturer, but in this case it was simple to see otherwise as the driver in the P321A was easily the more relaxed driver. The Persona driver looked like he had to work harder to keep up with the newer car.

The P321A is Proton's latest totally