Here are some progress updates on Perodua’s first-ever electric vehicle (EV). At today’s launch of the P-Circle app, Perodua president and CEO Datuk Seri Zainal Abidin Ahmad shared that pilot production of the EV has already started at the company’s Rawang base, and that the launch will definitely happen before the end of the year, as promised.
The Perodua chief said that the price target will remain unchanged, which is ‘maximum RM80k’. Proton recently opened order books for the eMas 5 EV, a rebadged Geely Xingyuan, with a price range of RM60k to RM80k.
Apple-to-apple comparison, head-to-head battle then? Not quite, as P2’s targets include a real-world range of between 400 to 410 km, 0-100 km/h between six and seven seconds and top speed around 165 km/h. The eMas 5 Premium has a range of 325 km and 0-50 km/h (not 100) time of 3.9 seconds, so the P2 is a more sophisticated EV. A main difference is that P2 EV owners will not own the car’s CATL battery – it will be via leasing.
Zainal said today that Perodua will eventually target sales of 2,500 units of the EV a month. If that sounds substantial, it is, because the current leader in the EV market – the Proton eMas 7 – averages at just under 700 units per month.
Interestingly, P2 wasn’t always so bullish on the prospects of its EV, which it was tasked by the government to produce despite foreign partner Daihatsu not having a suitable donor car. With no way out, Perodua had to start from scratch and developed Malaysia’s first homegrown EV. To make things even more ‘interesting’ the government announced the deadline publicly, which meant that P2 had to deliver in 2025, by hook or crook.
“Based on the product that we have, based on surveys, we have to change our direction – now we’re going for mass production. We’ll need a bit of time for that. As a start it’ll be 500 units a month and then we’ll ramp up production to over 2,000 units per month,” Zainal said in May when unveiling the ‘Aspirations’ final prototype.
The point of having a homegrown electric car is also to build up a local ecosystem for EVs, and Perodua is targeting around 50% local content for its EV by the middle of 2026, which is an admirable goal. This most probably won’t include key components such as the battery and electric motor – which will come from China – but there are plans to localise these too. However, sufficient volume is needed before this makes business sense.
The P2 chief also said that the EV will not be parked under a sub-brand with its own dealerships, like how Proton does it with eMas. Instead, it will be sold alongside ICE-powered in the same showrooms. Existing after-sales service personnel are currently undergoing training to support the new EV.
Read all about Perodua’s first EV here, and find out more about the just-launched P-Circle app that its owners will use. Just around the corner now!
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perodua tough sell because buyers dont own the battery, and they using homegrown engineers graduate from uitm/uuim/mara/mrsm. against proton which is proven CCP tech.
Since our buyers typically considers resale value as a criteria, a battery leasing program makes sense. But only if the subscription is priced well. Battery swap is included in the subscription which entitles you to swap the batteries whenever there is an issue, even beyond the warranty. So second hand buyers can continue the subscription and not worry about battery degradation.
The economics of it will have to be thought out carefully by the buyer. While it is an RM80k car and your loan will reflect that, the extra cost of subscription will have to be included. Those who replace their cars every 3-5 years and also second hand buyers would benefit from this lease program. Those who keep their cars for longer (at least for as long as the battery warranty is valid) may find that buying the battery outright may be a better option during their ownership.
But it’s all speculation until the leasing costs and battery prices are revealed.
Unlikely P2 developed a totally new EV design all on their own. While Daihatsu doesn’t have EV, Toyota’s partner in China, GAC, has EVs with battery swap capability using Nio’s technology.
It’s good that it’s CATL sourced powertrain,
CATL and BYD are 2 major global Electric Drivetrain and battery supplier.
80k is without the battery? 2k units per month is very optimistic.
Proton Emas is way ahead of the game. Expect this P2 to be outsold as well.
It doesn’t sound convincing. A pilot project, testing the market with a new concept. It is like they are not confident if their product can really sell, so ‘let us test the market and see what happens and we react accordingly.’ They are not used to produce their own product, can’t depend on Daihatsu, on their own and government already told them to meet certain deadline. Not a good story to start with.
with the drive train and Battery from a reliable source, then there is two less issues to deal. P2 is more focus on user interface and other features to incorporate. oh ya.. how well is P2 engineer can work with drive train supplier too matters. let’s see how it comes out…
80k price with battery will make it competitive.
80k minus the battery then might as well buy the car from other makes with the battery. End of the day after paying the loan the whole car is yours.
However if 40k for a kosong spec (imagine a Myvi minus the engine, should be around this price) without battery then it might look competitive. Suitable for use for Grab or drivers who drive very high mileage who frequent fast charge.
At 80k that you don’t own the battery and leasing…that’s super expensive compared to similar ones. Tough sell…but then…there will be those early adopters willing to take the risk. After all, it’s P2.
Perodua Nautica was a pilot project too.
if you want to lease it, u have go beyond the paperwork and invest in infra like Nio. But the way i look at it, the leasing will never be in favor of the users, so it won’t work here. the only reason P2 is not including the battery is because they can’t price their car as competitive as their chinese rivals. they have the economy of scales, let’s face it. even the japanese who have dominated the industry is losing out. so i put my money on the table that when it comes to EV, there is only P1 (which is chinese)
BYD with CKD by next year and rm100k cap being gone will be interesting to see and most probably dominate too i think. gone will be the era of malaysian/japanese car being most of the market and china cars will slowly creep up in shares with its long time experience and dedication in EV development. although p1 and p2 will surely find a way whether that be gomen protection or p2 changing partners to China completely like what p1 did. it’s only a matter of time.
I do not foresee it will do well. People want to buy a complete car or product here. I think 1k units per month is extremely optimistic.
Rushed deadline, capped ceiling price, first time developed from scratch
These are all recipe for success, trust me bro