Proton Ertiga replacement rendered with X50 styling

With the long-awaited Proton X50 SUV launched, the national carmaker’s entry into the highly competitive B-segment SUV market will certainly be a regular sight on Malaysian roads. What if the X50’s design language was applied to a future replacement for Proton’s compact MPV, the Ertiga? Here’s a virtual indication, courtesy of rendering maestro Theophilus Chin.

Here, the X50’s headlamps and Infinite Weave grille are applied to the MPV – here named ‘Ermpat’ as a play on the Ertiga name, where tiga (three) is followed by empat (four) in Malay – minus the red element that is present on the B-segment SUV.

The front licence plate placement are carried over and general bumper sculpting is largely similar, save for the rendered MPV’s larger side intakes that flank narrower uprights and a smaller lower intake opening compared to those on the X50.

The Ertiga replacement has been given a daylight opening that is also styled after the X50, and the sculpting of the MPV’s doors mimic those on the SUV. However, the side mirrors have been rendered to be mounted on the upper corners of the door skins, instead of being located above the window line as on the X50.

The rear end of the MPV rendered here also gets the X50’s upwards and rearwards kink, albeit here with an extended window line aft of the C-pillar in order to maximise the window surface area for the Ertiga replacement’s third-row occupants.

The tailgate and tail lamp assemblies are similarly fashioned after those of the X50, though more upright to suit the MPV silhouette. The roof spoiler is also slightly more conservative here, doing without the mid-section cutouts.

The rear licence plate location is the same on the ‘Ermpat’ as on the X50, though the crease line that arcs from the outer edges of each tail lamp through the tailgate on the X50 is now a straighter horizontal line, marginally further down from the licence plate.

It’s a more conservative lower rear bumper section treatment on the ‘Ermpat’ as well, where black cladding takes up a smaller section with the exhausts now hidden, and the outboard vents are in body colour as a result.

The interior for the Ertiga replacement continues with the same theme; drawn from the X50, but dialled back to be more conservative. The steering wheel is carried over from the B-segment SUV, ditto the instrument cluster, while the dashboard architecture has been borrowed from the X70, aping the larger SUV’s arrangement of locating the infotainment below the air-con vents, instead of the X50’s floating-style unit.

Instead of the X50 and X70’s generous helpings on brightwork across the main dashboard fascia, the ‘Ermpat’ employs predominantly dark panels that are offset by a single metal-look trim, its design echoed on the door cards as well. The pentagonal speaker enclosures from the X50 are carried over into the MPV rendition.

Also borrowed from the X70 is its more symmetrical centre console arrangement compared to the X50’s, continuing the more conservative theme with dark plastic instead of the brighter metal-look setup. Meanwhile, the partly visible seat bolsters appear much flatter here in MPV application to aid easier entry and egress. The ‘Ermpat’ also dispenses with the vertical door grab handles to maximise the sense of space.

Proton has, in 2018, secured licensing for the use of IP and the right to manufacture and sell three Geely models. Two of these are already on sale in the Proton line-up, with the third being an MPV – the Geely Jiaji.

This being over 100 mm longer and wider than the Proton Exora, it isn’t quite the same as what has been rendered here by Theo, not least because it casts a considerably larger shadow and therefore, more spacious than the Ertiga that this ‘Ermpat’ is imagined to replace. Still, as a B-segment entrant, what do you think of this Proton MPV, dear readers?

GALLERY: 2017 Proton Ertiga