It may not look like much, but this maroon Proton could herald a minor revolution in the motoring world. It's been fitted with the ground-breaking EVE (which stands, cringingly, for Efficient, Viable, Environmental) system, developed by Lotus, the famed sportscar firm which is owned by Proton.
EVE takes a conventional petrol engine (in this case, the standard 1.8-litre unit found in the Proton Gen-2) and a CVT gearbox. Inbetween the engine and the gearbox is sandwiched a very compact electric motor, which draws power from a battery stack in the boot, and is recharged by the engine and recovered braking energy. There's also a beefed-up alternator and engine management system to allow a stop-start function in traffic.
So far, so very like Toyota's expensive HSD system. But what's revolutionary about EVE is that it isn't expensive. Lotus reckons that fitting it to a conventional family car would only add about 12% to the price, a cost that would be easily wiped-out by the 50% VRT rebate that hybrid vehicles enjoy in Ireland.
Even with only the stop-start system fitted, Lotus reckons on fuel savings of betwen 5% and 7%, with up to a 28% saving for the full hybrid system, and commensurate drops in CO2 emissions.
But there's another twist to this story, one that could have major ramifications for the European, and global, car market. Volkswagen is interested in buying Proton, to give it a low-cost east Asia base for building budget cars. If VW buys Proton, Lotus will more than likely come as part of the deal, and that means that the EVE system would be available for fitting into Polos, Golfs, Passats, Audi's A3, A4 and A6, Skoda's Fabia, Octavia and Roomster etc and so on. In other words, Europe's largest car making group could be about to get its hands on a cheap, viable and off-the-shelf, ready-to-plug-in hybrid system just as CO2 emissions hit the top of every car maker's agenda.
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