Kajang, 25 September 2014 – The New Car Assessment Program for Southeast Asian Countries (ASEAN NCAP) continues its safety rating activities and this time is for the new Malaysia’s made compact car – Proton Iriz. What is more special to the ASEAN NCAP, this result release (Quarter III 2014 September Release) is the very first time for the program to announce the finding of only one car in a single release, as well as the second car after Perodua Axia to obtain ASEAN NCAP safety rating before its debut into the market.

ASEAN NCAP Secretary-General, Mr. Khairil Anwar Abu Kassim said, “This is the good sign for us and most importantly to the consumers that they will know the result of our rating even before the launch so that the decision making will be made easier for more values for their money. This is also our promise to conduct more tests after the pilot phases, frequently informed the consumers and therefore making the system of promoting safety culture especially in vehicle safety works.”

ASEAN NCAP Chairman, Prof. Dr. Wong Shaw Voon said, “I am personally glad with the current trend in our market in which safety is now growing as one of the important factors for car buyers to consider. Also, when looking into the recent results of ASEAN NCAP and safety specifications of new cars in the market, safety is now has brought up the passenger car market to another level where the price remain competitive but at the same time we can see fitment of safety items such as airbags and ESC becoming more common in the affordable car sector.”     

The following are the gist of the Proton Iriz result (Quarter III 2014 September Release): 

* Proton Iriz – 5-Star in Adult Occupant Protection (AOP); 4-Star in Child Occupant Protection (COP).

* Proton has set a new trend in producing safer cars, and this is the second time for Proton to achieve 5-Star in AOP after Prevé/Suprima S model.

* In addition to that, the Electronic Stability Control (ESC) is made as standard fit in all variants and this offering is aligned with ASEAN NCAP objective to make ESC more affordable to the consumers.

* As final pricing will only be made public on this release date, ASEAN NCAP can only suggest that this car has the best prospect to be the most affordable 5-Star car (AOP) in the ASEAN region.

ASEAN NCAP Chairman, Prof. Wong added, “I congratulate Proton for this achievement and hopefully this will set a trend among all manufacturers to produce a “global platform” of 5-Star car in the region, and safety will not simply be compromised especially for the entry level cars.”

Full press release can be downloaded here.