Right now, if you want to buy an electric vehicle (EV), you can only buy foreign brands, as our Proton and Perodua are still selling petrol-powered vehicles only. However, that could change in a couple of years.
During a session in the Dewan Rakyat, Syahredzan Johan (Bangi MP) asked what the government’s plans are to make EVs affordable for the masses.
In response to that question, Liew Chin Tong, the Deputy Minister of MITI, stated that discussions have taken place between the government and Proton as well as Perodua regarding the implementation of a domestically manufactured EV by 2025. However, he did not provide more details about it.
For Proton, they have been working closely with Geely, so they can readily access the lineup of EV models from the Chinese carmaker for local assembly. This approach would meet the criteria for a completely knocked down (CKD) EV.
As for Perodua, most of the cars sold here were based on Daihatsu models, but the Japanese carmaker currently doesn’t have an EV in their lineup. But they did debut a concept EV in 2022, called the “Daihatsu Ayla EV”.
We can only wait and see what the two national car brands will bring to the market in 2025.
