When it launched on 26 January 1995, the Proton Perdana became Malaysia's first car to compete against the Toyota Camry, Honda Accord and Nissan Cefiro.

[5][6] The Perdana sported a very low drag coefficient of Cd=0.29, allowing for improved fuel efficiency and a top speed in excess of 200 km/h.

[6] In 1997, the Perdana was given a minor facelift, offering a chrome-plated grille, redesigned alloy rims, as well as additional colour options and upgraded interior trimmings.

A bulletproof edition of the Proton Perdana was used in the shuttling of the Heads of Government during the 1998 Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation (APEC) summit in Kuala Lumpur.

[5][9] The Perdana V6 received additional ride & handling input from Proton's British subsidiary, Lotus, resulting in improved NVH attributes.

[5] It also featured a new bodykit, grille, 16" rims, leather seats, a redesigned steering wheel and other minor updates on the interior and two exterior colours; silver and black.

[N 1][12][13][14][15] Automotive Conversion Engineering (ACE), a subsidiary of Edaran Otomobil Nasional (EON) and a company which specializes in the development of limousines and TD2000 cars produced the Proton Perdana V6 Executive, an extended wheelbase variant offering an additional 25 cm (9.8 in) in the rear passenger compartment.

[19] However, such plans failed to materialize due to the 1997 Asian financial crisis and Proton's subsequent withdrawal from mainland Europe.

[20] On 12 April 2001, The Straits Times reported that Perdana V6s sold throughout Singapore were placed under a recall order due to problems with the steering and suspension system with the ball joints.