Having revealed the car in camouflaged form as part of the ASEAN Summit over the weekend, Proton has now pulled the covers off the new Saga ahead of the ASEAN–China Free Trade Area 3.0 Upgrade signing ceremony. The entry-level sedan, shown in full Ruby Red, debuts alongside the eMas 5 that has also made its debut here. The images only show the front of the car, but it does give us the best look at the heavy facelift, including the all-new front fascia with a large full-width grille and an Ethereal Bow chrome bar. The latter is linked to the daytime running lights in the projector LED headlights – a first for the Saga. We have at least seen the rest of the car, which features new segmented full-width LED taillights bearing the Proton script, a black plastic rear valance and an i-GT badge referencing the new engine, which we’ll get to later. Despite the revamp, the car is still recognisably a Saga, retaining the general shape, upright glasshouse and doors. The comprehensive redesign continues on the inside, with only the door handles being carried over. There’s a cleaner horizontal dashboard design with pill-shaped air vents, a wave texture on the door cards and a slim centre console with a new gearlever from the Iriz and Persona. Dominating proceedings is a widescreen display panel housing an infotainment touchscreen and a digital instrument display, another Saga first. The screens are in a rather square aspect ratio, leading to sizeable black bezels. To go with the new instrumentation, there’s a flat-bottomed steering wheel lifted from the X50. As previously reported, the Saga is set to receive a new 1.5 litre naturally-aspirated four-cylinder engine – a version of the facelifted X50’s engine but with the turbo and direct injection removed. This replaces the long-serving 1.3 litre VVT mill from the CamPro family, which makes 95 PS and 120 Nm of torque; expect useful increases with the shift to the new powertrain. Leaked details reveal that the car is set to be offered with both a conventional automatic transmission (likely the current four-speed unit) on the Standard and Executive and a CVT on the Premium, meaning that this is the first Saga to be launched without a manual gearbox option. The camera at the top of the windscreen means that the Saga will offer a suite of driver assists, including autonomous emergency braking. However, it will not come with Level 2 semi-autonomous driving features such as adaptive cruise control and lane centring assist, given that the left spoke of the steering wheel – which normally houses the cruise control and distance buttons – is blanked out. Expect these features to be limited to top-spec models, and here’s hoping an upgrade to six airbags is also on the cards. Clearly, we won’t have to wait long for the official details, including pricing for the Perodua Bezza rival. Proton does have its arms full at the moment, however, with the launch of the eMas 5 happening in just two days. 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.