The International Conference on Safety and Holistic Innovation for Future Vehicles (SHIFT 2025) is taking place October 28-30, jointly organised by the Malaysian Institute of Road Safety Research (MIROS) and the ASEAN New Car Assessment Programme (ASEAN NCAP). Yesterday, during an ASEAN NCAP star rating awards ceremony, the upcoming 2026 Proton Saga MC3 was awarded a four-star safety rating. Mind you, this is under the 2021-2025 test protocol, which will give way to the 2026-2030 protocol (with a higher emphasis on ADAS) from January. Why four stars for the Saga when it will have ADAS? Two possible reasons – A, the ADAS is a basic one, and B, ADAS may not be standard across the range. We’ll know for sure when the full ASEAN NCAP report is out. By the way, ASEAN NCAP now has a single rating system for a model – previously it allowed for different ratings for different variants, like the Perodua Bezza, tested in 2016 (AV five stars, all other variants four stars because they don’t have dual frontal seat belt reminders and stability control). Ditto the four-star Nissan Almera, tested in June 2025, which has no front passenger seat belt reminder. Back to the new Saga – surely Malaysia’s most anticipated thing on four wheels this year – the car was shown in full yesterday ahead of the ASEAN–China Free Trade Area 3.0 Upgrade signing ceremony, but non-VIPs like ourselves can only see the camouflaged unit that was shown at the ASEAN Summit a few days ago. This unit, as of yesterday, is on display at Proton’s Centre of Excellence in Shah Alam. 2026 Proton Saga MC3 camouflaged at Proton COE Compare prices between different insurer providers to save the most on your car insurance renewal compared to other competing services. Many payment method supported and you can pay with instalment using Grab PayLater or Shopee SPayLater.