Enter the 17-character VIN of your Proton to see the factory basics. Free, with no registration.
Look on the dashboard, the driver's door frame or in the registration document.
Type all 17 characters. The letters I, O and Q are never used in a VIN.
See the factory basics for free, and order a full report for the history behind the VIN.
Type in the 17-character VIN of a Proton and the decoder tells you the manufacturer, the model year and the country of manufacture. It needs no registration and costs nothing. Our data for the brand covers 16 models, from Ertiga, Exora and Iriz through Persona, Saga and Waja to X50, X70 and X90, with model years from 1985 to 2023.
The decoder reads only the VIN itself, so it cannot tell you about accidents, mileage, theft or previous owners. That information comes from a paid vehicle history report.
The first three characters are the WMI, the world manufacturer identifier. The code we map to Proton is PL1, and it belongs to Malaysia. So a VIN that begins with PL1 decodes to Proton as the manufacturer and Malaysia as the country of manufacture. Our list of codes is not complete, so a VIN that starts with other characters is not a problem. PL1 is simply the one we recognise for the brand.
Characters 4 to 8 describe the vehicle, and character 9 is a check digit. North American VINs must use it, while many others fill it differently. Position 10 gives the model year. Our version data for Proton runs from 1985 to 2023, and the letters repeat every 30 years, so the model range matters when you read them. A 7 in that position means 2007, and an A means 2010. The 11th character marks the plant, and characters 12 to 17 are the serial number.
Letters I, O and Q are never used in a VIN, which avoids confusion with 1 and 0. If you see one of them when copying a number, check the original again. Cars built since 1981 carry the 17-character format, which covers everything in our Proton data, whether it is a Hatchback, Sedan, Coupe or SUV.
Every VIN has six parts. This is what each of them means.
| Part | Characters | Meaning |
|---|---|---|
| WMI | 1 to 3 | World manufacturer identifier: who built the vehicle and where |
| VDS | 4 to 8 | Vehicle descriptor: model, body type and engine, as set by the manufacturer |
| Check digit | 9 | Control value that helps confirm the VIN is valid |
| Model year | 10 | Code for the model year |
| Plant | 11 | Code for the assembly plant |
| Serial | 12 to 17 | Production sequence number of this vehicle |
On the driver's side, visible through the windshield.
On a sticker on the door frame or the edge of the door.
Printed in the vehicle registration or title.
Stamped on the firewall or the frame on many models.
A VIN is built from six parts, and each one says something about the vehicle. Our guides explain how to read it and what it can and cannot tell you.
Enter the 17-character VIN and see the factory basics in seconds.
Look at the registration document first, then on the car itself. The VIN is usually visible at the base of the windscreen on the driver's side and on a label in the door frame. Copy all 17 characters exactly.
PL1 is the WMI code we map to Proton, and it belongs to Malaysia. The decoder uses it to show the manufacturer and the country of manufacture. Other codes may exist that are not in our list.
Use the 10th character. A digit from 1 to 9 stands for 2001 to 2009, so 7 means 2007. Letters cover the other years, for example A for 2010 and J for 2018. Because letters repeat every 30 years, check the result against what you know about the car.
It shows nothing about accidents, mileage, theft or owners, because the VIN does not contain that data. It also cannot confirm the condition of the car. It only reads the characters of the number.
Make sure the VIN on the car matches the one in the registration papers, and decode it to confirm the model year and country fit the listing. Then inspect the car in person and ask the seller for service records.