Proton e.MAS 7 Premium Review: Changing Tides

What we like:

Refined, practical and comfortable for the daily grind

Confidence-inspiring handling

Well-balanced chassis

What we dislike:

Slightly audible wind noise from driver's window at three-figure speeds

Could do with better factory-fitted tyres

In Malaysia, Proton isn’t just a carmaker: it’s a household name. For decades, models like the Saga, Wira, Waja, and Persona ferried families across the nation and even won hearts in Singapore, Thailand, and Indonesia. They were affordable, reliable, and practical.

Yet Proton never shied away from quirkiness. Remember the “Aeroback” hatchbacks? The cheeky three-door Satria? Or the Putra coupe? These cars gave the brand personality, proof that it wasn’t afraid to take risks. By 1996, Proton’s ambitions soared high enough to buy an 80% stake in Lotus for £51 million, a bold move that signalled it wanted to play in the big leagues.

The years rolled on and Proton grew more confident, moving from rebadged models to designing and engineering its own. The 2009 Exora MPV became a runaway success, with nearly 200,000 units built. For a while, Proton seemed untouchable; loved at home, backed by the government, and brimming with ambition.

Changing Tides

But the winds shifted. Domestic policies changed, global carmakers poured into Malaysia to take advantage of tax breaks, and as local buyer’s affluence grew, their tastes changed too; Proton suddenly looked dated, and the costs of keeping it afloat weighed heavily on the government.

By 2016, patience had run thin. Then–Prime Minister Najib Razak signed off on a RM1.5 billion bailout, while quietly assembling a task force to find Proton a foreign partner.

Proton had flirted with foreign partners before - General Motors and Volkswagen among them - but talks always collapsed under the weight of national pride. This was, after all, Malaysia’s “national car”; handing it over was never an easy sell.

Yet this time, China’s Geely came calling. The deal was struck: Geely would take a 49.9% stake in Proton for RM460.3 million, and with it, a 51% stake in Lotus.

It marked the end of an era. Proton, the plucky national carmaker, was no longer on its own. But in that moment, a new story began - one where Proton, with Geely’s backing, had the chance to reinvent itself once again.

Geely’s expertise quickly turned Proton’s fortunes. It kept core models like the Saga, Persona and Iriz alive, then rolled out SUVs the X70, X50 and X90. Though rebadged Geelys, each was fine-tuned by Proton’s engineers to ensure ride and handling suits local roads and taste.

And with that shift, Proton has stayed in the black since 2019; a sharp turnaround from its bailout years.

In keeping with times, it’s a no-brainer for Proton to delve into EVs; after all they have the expertise of Geely to make it a successful project. Enter the all-electric Proton e.MAS 7 you’re seeing here.

On The Outside

There is no hiding the fact that the e.MAS 7 is based on the Geely Galaxy E5; for the curious, the “Protonisation” was limited to the change of badges throughout the car and also suspension set up.

Step outside and you’ll realise Proton has ditched its old-school “budget car” skin for something far sleeker. The e.MAS 7 has a clean, sculpted body with sharp creases and a confident stance; someone obviously been studying Scandinavian minimalism. The front wears a pair of slim LED headlights, while the rear’s full-width taillamp treatment wouldn’t look out of place on a German SUV. But don’t mistake it for a poser though - its slippery 0.28 Cd drag coefficient is a reminder this is not just about looking good; it’s also about eking out every last kilometre of range.

The Inside Story

Inside, Proton has clearly decided it’s time to graduate from hard plastics and uninspired dashboards. The cabin is an entirely different ballgame: a twin-screen setup dominates the dash, flanked by soft-touch materials and clever storage spaces. You get wireless Apple CarPlay and Android Auto, a proper premium sound system called ‘Flyme Sound’, and an interior ambience that feels more “urban chic” than “taxi uncle’s weekday ride”.

The second row is surprisingly usable too: Proton knows Asians in general travel in packs, and this EV should be able to ferry three abreast with more than enough leg, head and shoulder room.

Pop open the tailgate of the Proton e.MAS 7 and you’re greeted with a boot that swallows 461 litres of cargo - big enough for the weekly family grocery run, the in-laws’ luggage, and maybe even a suspiciously large rice cooker. But Proton didn’t stop there; beneath the floor lies a handy 51-litre ‘tub’, perfect for stashing charging cables, muddy football boots, or that durian you don’t want the cabin to smell like for the next decade.

And if you’re still running out of space, there’s even a hidden compartment under the rear seat, ideal for sliding in a pair of sneakers, flip-flops, or those random knick-knacks you swear you’ll “deal with later” but will probably discover again only in 2029. Practicality, with bonus hide-and-seek storage.

Driving It

On the move, the Proton e.MAS 7 is propelled by a single electric motor sending 160 kW (215 bhp) and a healthy 320 Nm of torque to the front wheels, which means it surges forward with the sort of effortless whoosh only EVs can deliver; no gears, no drama, just smooth, linear pull. Around town it glides quietly, with suspension tuning that leans more toward comfort than corner-carving; both driver and passengers are treated to a hushed cabin that makes even peak-hour crawl feel civilised. This is light-years ahead of, say, the old Proton Satria Neo, which had all the refinement of a washing machine spin cycle when you hit expressway speeds (trust me, I had this car twice).

That said, not all is whisper-quiet: Push past 100 km/h and you’ll notice a rush of wind sneaking in from the driver’s side window, almost like the car’s way of reminding you that Proton still has a few kinks to iron out. Still, the e.MAS 7 shows just how far Proton has come in the NVH department.

Here’s a little nugget about the Proton e.MAS 7’s suspension: When the first prototypes rolled into Tanjong Malim for evaluation, Proton’s engineers immediately frowned at the chassis setup. To them, it felt too soft and ill-suited for Malaysia’s notoriously patchy roads; very un-Proton, given the brand’s long reputation for taut, Lotus-inspired handling. What followed was a back-and-forth with Geely, a proper ping-pong match of engineering philosophies, until both sides agreed to meet in the middle. The end result is what you feel in the e.MAS 7 today: Compliant yet composed, supple without being wallowy.

And here’s the kicker - the final tyre choice, Goodyear’s EfficientGrip EV, was signed off by Proton’s own local team, who insisted it delivered the right balance of efficiency and grip for Malaysia’s roads.

In A Nutshell

In a market increasingly crowded with Chinese EVs, the Proton e.MAS 7 manages to carve out a distinct identity. It’s more than just numbers on a spec sheet: its smooth electric motor, thoughtfully tuned suspension, and hushed cabin reflect Proton’s decades of experience adapting cars to Malaysian roads, now applied to an EV.

Practical touches like a cavernous boot, 33 storage compartments, and the extra “tub” in the boot make it genuinely family-friendly, while interior refinement and clever tech somewhat raises it above the “budget EV” stereotype. Compared to its Chinese rivals, the e.MAS 7 feels considered rather than mass-produced: it’s a car engineered with local context in mind, from tyre choice to chassis setup, which is also offering Singaporean buyers a rare mix of comfort, practicality, and EV performance without compromise.

In short, Proton has taken its first full-electric SUV and made it unmistakably its own: a Malaysian contender that can confidently stand alongside, and in some cases outclass, the competition.


Photos by Azfar Hashim

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