A yen for profit. I find Proton cars good and reliable. Am using several of them, Saga, Iswara, Wira and Perdana, for about 2 years. Not much problems. EON service in Johor Jaya excellent.
Spares are cheap.
They just change the body parts, because they are cheap and easily available, locally made. A lot of people whom I know use Protons. Ask the car rental firms. Protons are always very popular with customers. Dont know much about them.