Proton Jumbuck reimagined as Toyota HiLux competitor!

The Proton Jumbuck was an icon of its era, a low-slung, two-door car that essentially filled the gap left in the market by the venerable Subaru Brumby.

But no one is buying single-cab 2xXNUMXs anymore — the market is now dominated by double-cab XNUMXxXNUMX pickups like the Toyota HiLux and Ford Ranger, which were the top two best-selling vehicles in the country in XNUMX.

This fact prompted creative automotive designer Theophilus Chin to imagine what a new generation Proton Jumbuck car could look like, with a couple of renders featured on a Malaysian site. paultan.org.

The two images are actually based on the Geely model, the Proton company's adopter, the Haoyue VX11 SUV, and in the style of the Malaysian market, the second image shows a bathtub full of durian fruit. Geely owns 49.9% of Proton, while Malaysian company DRB-Hicom owns the remainder.

It has all the hallmarks of the current generation ute: a bold front end design, underbody protection, large wheels, square fenders, side steps and a clean-looking body. It even has broad branding on the tailgate, just like the current styling.

Unfortunately, the images are just a pipe dream, and Geely PR team spokesman Ash Sutcliffe tweeted a response to the images: “I wish this could happen but sorry guys, this is a dream come true. However, something else is going on."

We'll have to wait and see what Mr. Sutcliffe had in mind, but it's possible that another Chinese ute will soon be released to compete with the likes of the upcoming Great Wall cannon. We'll let you know when we know more.