Proton Saga

Proton Saga is the first car manufactured by Proton, the first Malaysian car manufacturer in September 1985. The 100,000th Proton Saga was sold in January 1989. The car is based on Mitsubishi's car technology.

Update October 27, 2000. Actually saga in Malay is a type of seed rather than bean. And wira also means hero in Malay.

See also
http://www.oneworld.org/ni/issue195/proton.htm

The "Saga" is a type of bean.

I was sitting at an open-air Chinese restaurant in Ampang, Malaysia, when the SECOND Malaysian car, the Proton Wira, was introduced with great fanfare in 1995. (Wira, by the way, was the nickname for Malaysia's 1998 Commonwealth Games mascot, an orang-utan.)

There were hordes of people gathered around the local car-dealership. Even though there was only one car to display at that branch, there was a band, banners, fireworks. It was like d-day and the 4th of July all rolled into one.

It's probably difficult for non-Malaysians to understand what an achievement these cars represent to the Malaysian people, or to comprehend why they are named after beans and simians.