2025 Proton Saga Details Leaked – New 1.5 4-cyl Engine, No MT, Dual-Screens

Recent spyshot of the upcoming 2025 Proton Saga MC3 sighted earlier this year that made rounds on social media.

It appears snapshots plus alleged new details of the upcoming new 2025 Proton Saga – also dubbed the next-generation Proton Saga MC3 – have leaked on social media earlier this week.

From which, there are several key details to note starting with the juiciest visual yet – a teaser snapshots showing the new headlamps and bits of its new concave-shaped front grille. Clearly, things are set to fare very differently from what many initially envisioned.

An initial render of the 2025 Proton Saga MC3 by Theophilus Chin Swee Hoe (@Theottle) based on the spyshot shared at the start of the post.

Before we continue, we’ll point out that the visuals featured initially leaked on social media prior, and they seem to have been re-shared recently and are now making their rounds online once more. For now, we’ll hold judgement until a full revelation.

Exterior aside, there was also one leaked snapshot of the dash, and this is also interesting. From which, we can see pill-shaped air vents, but what’s above which is more interesting as they appear to look like a pair of conjoined dual-display screens. 

Clearly, Proton is seeking to give the Saga a very modern makeover on board, and this leak suggests it won’t mirror what’s seen in Geely-based products like the recently launched 2025 Proton X50 facelift, or even the Proton S70 C-segment sedan.

Leaked online were the exterior teaser snaps (top left & right) and a snap of the dash (above).

Next comes a snap of a document with arguably more compelling details to boot. For starters, it alleges that the new 2025 Proton Saga line-up will see three variants – Standard, Executive and Premium – ready, just like the new X50 mentioned.

The document denotes that all three variants will share the same 1.5-litre engine, speculated to be a new 4-cyl petrol mill. More interesting here too is the fact that both conventional (AT) and CVT-type automatic transmission types are listed, with no manual (MT) option.

We’ve known for some time now that Proton will drop the manual transmission choice from its line-up completely. Given how sales for this transmission type has slowed down significantly of late, the absence of which in the new Saga was indeed expected.

More specifically, both the Standard and Premium guises will use the AT box, whilst the range-topping Premium guise will get the CVT instead. The latter’s return is a real surprise here considering it was dropped from the current (outgoing) Saga for a 4AT box.

For now, it’s unclear if the AT box is carried over from the outgoing Saga model, which is an Aisin-supplied 4AT unit. It’s also unclear if the CVT box type listed is the same Punch-supplied unit brimmed in the current Persona and Iriz models.

Current (outgoing) Proton Saga model pictured. Proton's best-selling nameplate celebrated its 40th anniversary and saw over 2 million units sold since 1985.

The automaker's choice of fielding both AT and CVT transmission types based on variants also leads us to believe that the new 1.5-litre 4-cyl mill speculated could see differing outputs or states-of-tune – like how the pre-facelift X50 range had both MPI and TGDi engines offered.

For now, Proton continues to keep a tight lid on things with the new-gen Saga – as it should, considering that this is the automaker’s key best-seller. Expect more details as we get closer to its official launch, which is likely to take place in the final quarter (Q4).