Proton design

Proton design
legal form
founding	1980
resolution	2013
Seat	Fortaleza , Brazil
management	Pedro Virgínio Onofre Barbosa
Branch	Automobiles

Proton Design was a Brazilian manufacturer of automobiles .

Company history

Pedro Virgínio Onofre Barbosa founded the company in Fortaleza in 1980 . Another source names March 4, 1988 as the date of foundation. He started with the production of automobiles and racing cars . The brand name was Proton . After his death in January 2012, the company was dissolved on January 29, 2013.

vehicles

The first model was the VW Buggy Búzios . It was based on a chassis from Volkswagen do Brasil . The open body managed without doors. Only three vehicles were built.

The Cucaracha was a two-seater sports car . The coupé had an air-cooled four - cylinder boxer engine from VW with a displacement of 1600 cm³ in the rear, which drove the rear wheels.

The Tatuí and Tatuí 2 buggies followed.

From the 1990s the focus was on racing cars.

The last model P 2 was a modern take on a buggy, designed in collaboration with his son Pedro Virgínio. A water-cooled engine from VW with a displacement of 2000 cm³ and a turbocharger in the rear propelled the vehicles.

Web links

• Company website (Portuguese) ( Memento of September 18, 2013 in the Internet Archive )
• João F. Scharinger: Lexicar Brasil (Portuguese)

Individual evidence

1. ↑ ^{a b c d e f g h i} João F. Scharinger: Lexicar Brasil (Portuguese, accessed October 29, 2016)
2. ↑ ^{a b} Empresas do Brasil (Portuguese, accessed October 29, 2016)