Cooperation between Malaysian national car maker Proton and China's Geely is bearing fruit in Proton's first sports utility vehicle (SUV), which will hit the Malaysian market soon.

The X70 SUV is the first joint product since Geely acquired 49.9 percent of Proton from Malaysia's leading conglomerate DRB-HICOM that owned 100 percent of Proton last year.

Expressing his confident in the car, Proton CEO Li Chunrong said after a media preview of the vehicle Friday that the company hoped it could improve Proton's image and customers' satisfaction.

Based on Geely's popular SUV model Boyue, designers from Proton have infused some unique Malaysian elements into the car.

"We embraced the unique elements Malaysia has to offer and infused them into our design celebrating the uniqueness and richness of our environment, traditions and heritage," said Azlan Othman, Proton's head of design.

Engineers and technicians from Proton and Geely have been working together in configuring the original model from China for local need and later in making and testing the car.

"Over the last 15 months since we signed the first agreement, we have put in the effort, our engineers between Proton and Geely have been working together," said Deputy CEO Mohd Radzaif Bin Mohamed.

Proton will start taking bookings for the X70 this month and the car is expected to be officially launched later in the year.