The government will introduce the essential list and localisation incentives to strengthen the domestic automotive supply chain and expand export opportunities to support local vendors, investment, trade and industry (MITI) minister Tengku Datuk Seri Zafrul Abdul Aziz has said, according to a Bernama report.
To spur the development of Malaysia’s EV manufacturing ecosystem, he said the existing fully-imported (CBU) tax exemption framework currently scheduled to run until December 31, 2025 is being aligned with a broader push for local assembly operations and parts localisation. Industry players say CBU EV prices could go up 30-100%.
“The strategic shift aims to strengthen industrial participation and enhance Malaysia’s competitiveness within the regional supply chain. Our national champions are making strong progress as Perodua’s EV programme is on track, while Proton recently launched the eMas 5, giving a clear signal of our industry’s capability and ambition,” he said at yesterday’s opening of the inaugural Global Automotive Technology Expo (GATE) 2025.
“In fact, Malaysia held the number one vehicle market position in Southeast Asia during the first half of 2025, ahead of its regional peers. Malaysia is ready to capture the opportunities for the future of mobility with a strong semiconductor base, abundant rare earth resources and a mature manufacturing ecosystem,” he added.
Tax incentives will remain for locally-assembled (CKD) EVs until the end of 2027, with most mainstream brands already committing to local production, including national carmakers Proton and Perodua.
Some foreign makes like Volvo and Mercedes-Benz already make at least some of their EVs here, but a few others such as BYD and Xpeng expect to only start production in the second half of 2026, so expect some price increases at least for several months.
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malaysian per-capita car sales is eight times yes 8x of indonesia because of mighty ringgit which appreciated strongly against IDR/SGD/USD/THB , starting since 2023, so this is thanks to which gomen and which PM?
Let’s be real — the only reason the currency looks ‘up’ now is because it crashed so badly under him in the first place. A rebound after a huge drop isn’t an achievement
Our currency starts to crash badly around 2015-2016 if you look at the statistic, which PM & government at that time?
“it crashed so badly under him in the first place.” – and who is this (him) that you refer to? i asume you refer to one of the many former PMs, is it mahatir or muhyiddin or najib or badawi?
Guessed most people would like to know how APs can ensure EV cars sold here are safe as mention before.
Tanchong sell what also will mampus punya. they probably will price it emas.7 price for this axia sized car…
Those brands now have ckd plants as deal done, should give grant exemption for cbu, as part of transition from cbu to ckd, though beyond end of exemption of 2025
sounds good. but dunno the details. have to trust our parliamentary representative to look deep into it.
my wish is to see :
1. proton and it’s supply chain striving to get into Geely’s global supply chain. they need to be competitive enough to join the bandwagon.
2. proton’s main product : Saga.. i hope it will continue to drive the company’s bottom line. i hope it will continue to develope this product into hybrid drive train and also further strengthen proton’s chasis/platform design capability specifically in small car. can proton saga be a platform for Geely global small car ?
3. perodua BEV is a first risky venture by this company. hopefully their product planning is strong and resilient to adapt whatever they have design in for this BEV. it is a large capital undertaking…
4. gurun assembly plant for leapmotor. is this plant well supported by competitive supply chain to keep it a viable BEV assembly plant and regional ckd plant .. hope to see something significant from there
well time will tell
Ensure all workers for these ckd chinese brands are Malaysian. Otherwise, they are NOT welcome here. Shoo, go away!
Fam welcome foreign player squad and could beat vietname 4-0 so thats why malaysia welcome foreign workers who are more competent and capable