Quick look:
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PROTON’s 10,000 sMILEs Expedition, which started last month, continues through East Malaysia and has now also crossed into Brunei.
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Besides being a journey connecting with communities, the drive also serves as real-world testing in varied conditions for Proton R&D to improve the vehicles.
PROTON’s 10,000 sMILEs Expedition, which celebrates the warmth, hospitality and community spirit of East Malaysia through a series of cultural engagements, started last month and is ongoing.
The convoy recently completed the cross-border leg of the journey with the fleet of vehicles travelling from Kota Kinabalu, Sabah, into Brunei Darussalam.
The 10 vehicles – consisting of the Saga, S70, and X50 models – traveled from Sabah’s capital city through Beaufort before crossing the border into Brunei.
En route to the border, the convoy stopped at the OBM Automobil Beaufort dealership in Sabah. The stop served as the official unveiling of the outlet’s updated corporate identity, which features a redesigned showroom layout and altered customer interaction points in line with the brand’s updated retail network standards. Upon entering Brunei, the expedition concluded with a stakeholder engagement event at the Econ Motors Showroom.
Real-world testing
Aside from its promotional value, the event serves as an engineering and validation exercise for the vehicles. The drive provides opportunities to evaluate real-world performance, long-distance cruising refinement, and fuel economy of the current models in everyday regional driving conditions.
Travelling over a diverse mix of road environments, including urban congestion, highway cruising, border-stop idling, and rural topography, the team collected a lot of practical performance data for Proton R&D engineers to study with the aim of improving the products.
According to PROTON Deputy CEO, Dato’ Ir. Abdul Rashid Musa, the cross-border journey also provided an opportunity to validate the fuel efficiency, comfort, and safety systems of the vehicles under real ownership conditions.
Connecting people, places and communities
“This chapter of the PROTON 10,000 sMILEs Expedition reflects how mobility goes beyond transportation — it is about connecting people, places and communities across borders,” he added.
The expedition also aligns with the broader spirit of Visit Malaysia 2026 by promoting Borneo as a connected regional destination, where road travel can contribute to tourism growth, stronger local economies and deeper cultural exchange.
Following the completion of the Brunei leg, the 10,000 sMILEs Expedition is scheduled to move into Sarawak for the next phase of its public and dealer engagement program.
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