KUALA LUMPUR, Jan 16 (Reuters) - Malaysian national car maker Proton will replace its Wira Sedan "any time soon" with one powered by its own Campro engine, newspapers quoted company CEO Tengku Mahaleel Tengku Ariff as saying on Friday.
The Wira Sedan is currently powered by a Mitsubishi engine.
The launch will be followed by new versions of its Satria hatchback and Tiara compact car in the second half of the year, the Star English-language daily reported.
It quoted an industry source close to Proton as saying the cars would be competitively priced at between 30,000 and 50,000 ringgit ($7,900 and $13,000).
Sales of passenger cars in Malaysia fell 16 percent to 24,219 units in November from the same month in 2002, continuing a poor period for the industry and Proton in particular.
Perusahaan Otomobil Nasional Bhd (Proton) posted a 41 percent drop in second-quarter net profit to the end of September as sales suffered from stiff Japanese and Korean competition.
Proton shares, up 5.9 percent in the last 12 months versus the main market's 21.8 percent gain, were 0.6 percent or five cents higher at 9.05 ringgit by 0153 GMT.
The stock is up 11.1 percent in the past three months.