On the 18th of January 2008, Proton unveiled the long-awaited successor to the original car, which will be phased out in June of the same year. Retaining the Saga name, the new car is an indigenous design, essentially based on a stretched Proton Savvy platform.
The new Saga is powered by the same 1.3-litre Campro engine (which was co-designed with Lotus) that is fitted to entry-level Gen-2s. However, it has a new Integrated Air-Fuel Module (IAFM) which varies the airflow into the engine to improve efficiency, smoothening out the problematic dip in the torque curve in the lower and middle rev ranges. The car feels peppy to drive and acceleration to highway speeds is good. It boasts the biggest boot space in its class (413 liters).
Because the new Saga, like its predecessor, is expected to be popular amongst Malaysian taxicab operators, the car is designed to accommodate a compressed natural gas tank without considerably restricting boot space.
The new Saga will be the cheapest Proton once the RM26,999 original is retired[citation needed] in June 2008. Pricing varies between RM31,500 and RM39,800, which led Proton to dub the new Saga as "The People's Car".
As of February 2008, approximately 23,000 customer bookings had been made for the car since its launch (18th January 2008) and the corresponding waiting time for delivery during that same period stretched up to 5 months.
