The ministry of investment, trade and industry (MITI) has rebutted claims that its new policy for CBU fully-imported EVs is only meant to protect national carmakers Proton and Perodua. Deputy minister Sim Tze Tzin said the regulations are also focused on developing the local automotive ecosystem by encouraging foreign brands to set up CKD local assembly operations and work with local suppliers, The Edge reported.
Sim said the said ecosystem does not only serve the local brands, but also European, Japanese and Chinese brands operating in Malaysia. “We want foreign manufacturers to collaborate with our local vendors in the ecosystem so that they can enhance their capabilities, move up the value chain and position Malaysia to become an exporter of automotive components and parts while also preparing for the future of autonomous driving,” he told reporters today.
The new policy, which comes into effect on July 1, states that all CBU EVs will need to have a minimum cost, insurance and freight (CIF) value of RM200,000 and a minimum power output of 180 kW (245 PS). This supersedes a ruling announced less than four months earlier, which mandated a minimum selling price of RM250,000 and a minimum power output of 200 kW (272 PS).
The new regs would exclude many sub-RM150,000 EVs currently on the market today – i.e. the Proton eMas sub-brand’s main rivals – based on their power outputs alone. As for those that do meet that criteria, the CIF value does not include either import and excise duties or distributor and dealer profit margins, meaning that they will effectively carry a retail price of at least RM300,000. For the full calculation, you can read our deep dive on the new policy here.
Sim added that foreign companies that want to continue selling EVs between RM100,000 and RM200,000 (we should again stress that the CIF value is not representative of the actual selling price) can do so by simply engaging Malaysian contract manufacturers and suppliers to assemble their cars locally.
“If they want to price EVs between RM100,000 and RM200,000, they can work together with contract manufacturers to manufacture here,” he said.
According to Sim, the government is focusing on building a “complete ecosystem” that supports the local automotive industry, including manufacturing, supply chains, infrastructure, talent and innovation. The automotive sector, he said, contributed an estimated RM80 billion to RM95 billion to gross domestic product in 2025 and supported more than 750,000 jobs.
Sim touted the strength of the local semiconductor industry as being integral of the government’s ambitions in the automotive sector – especially as EVs and autonomous vehicles become increasingly software- and chip-intensive – with the country being the sixth largest exporter in semiconductors.
“Our goal is clear. We want to create a more integrated ecosystem where automotive and semiconductor industries work in synergy. This will allow us to capture greater value, strengthen our technological capabilities, and position Malaysia as a key player in next-generation mobility solutions,” he added.
We should point out that MITI itself has frequently cited the protection of local carmakers as a key driver of its latest EV policies. While the intention to safeguard vendors is noble – the move could help prevent Malaysia from becoming a “dumping ground” for Chinese EVs, as is the case for countries like Thailand – we can’t help but feel there is an ulterior motive here.
For one, the decision to make affordable CBU EVs not just more expensive (and massively so, usually enough of an incentive for carmakers to invest in local manufacturing), but flat out banned altogether, only serves to aid Proton and Perodua without making any meaningful difference to parts makers. The constant flip-flopping on policies also means that foreign carmakers have less time to plan cohesive and coherent CKD plans – all the while the Proton eMas 5 and 7 continue to sit at the top of the sales charts.
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Another shiok sendiri …. What makes you think manufacturers want to come here and set up a plant? Low volumes, plenty of bureaucracy….
foreign come here setup company, need to give 30% shares to a local crony maybe to fahash salvador or to one of the TulSan family relatives.
Bubarkan MITI, useless crony.
Full of lies… Just want to protect national EV only
who t f cares about national ev?! get that fact right, they want to protect their cronies’ pocket ok.
The whole thing is just so blatantly disgusting and makes me wanna puke… On their faces
I just Home Damon Proton bungkus and mampos. What a sastera Of resources
“We should follow Dubai’s example and invest in the best. Malaysians deserve access to cheaper, better cars, allowing them to replace their vehicles more often. Many dream of owning C-segment sport SUVs and larger MPVs.
Malaysia’s electric grid must also be revamped by investing in the future; it is no longer a myth that our legacy fossil fuel infrastructure can support us. We need a more resilient and cheaper path forward to compete on the global stage”
” Indonesia has recently announced new incentive to boost EV adoption for 200,000 EVs in an effort to reduce the burden of fuel subsidies on the state budget.”
Work with the local companies so that they can jack up prices and torment the Rakyat which has no choice? If they cannot compete with the foreign vendors then they should not be in business, under no circumstances should they be shielded away from the global macro and micro economics. I don’t care if these local companies close down, so does my fellow Rakyat.
lol what “local” EV brand? Proton EVs are rebadged Geely (no shame also putting eMas in our merdeka parade last year yikes), and P2’s failure EV with its weird subscription battery model sold like 11 units max.
But this is typical “type M” behaviour lah, fail at school so lower exam passing grade, fail at business so force better business to give u money for no reason, fail at making good cars so ban or tax all better cars, we have seen this with petrol cars since bapak racism Tun M made Proton in the 80s…
consumer always suffers ¯\_(ツ)_/¯
After 40 years of “Protection , Loans and Subsidies:” from various Govnment …… PROTON ……. “APA LAGI AWAK MAU ??? ” Rakyat have “Cough Blood” for 40 years to “keep proton afloat ” .
Tukarlah mcm mana pun. Bau tahi dia sama saja.
biasanya kalau org ada ternampak tahi, tindakbalas biasa ialah tutup hidung & cepat2 jauhkan diri, tapi kalau u ingin bandingkan bau, ……
What about the rakyat? Ever ask what the rakyat wants?
Time to fire this MITI minister and his boss. Ini kalilah!
BULLSHIT!
idk man what u said is sus af
We already knew Umno minister just swallowed and not even countering the argument of government officers warlords.
But now Dap minister also dare not to challenge the authority of the government officers warlords. Haiyo.
Good for EV environment, how about Teslon?
And do the ICE ckd receive similar requirements? 20% local 80% export?
The difference in treatment between the ICE manufacturer and the EV manufacturer by the Miti officers is interesting to ponder about.
Mini**** of Incompetence Testy Implausible
Thailand will welcome the move makes by Msia……our loss will be their gain as per previous Atuk’s policy which turn Thailand as an autonotive hub of SEA.
Please protect local software developers too by enforcing higher tax to SAP adopters, oversees outsourced IT services…
when they are in the opposition camp, they are so clear minded, clear eyed and can see all the flaws and problems that all these “policies” have caused all thru the last 40, 50 years.
now they are the gov of the day, they act dumb and start talking nonsense and defending the undefendable.
absolutely a bunch of spineless self serving cancer cells of the country and treats all those that voted them into office as suckers that are nothing but stepping stones.
vote them all out.
.. to persuade the many rakyat marhaen who ride in petrol powered motorbikes & view EVs as for the golongan berada..
Bubar jela MITI ni.
Ok so from what I understand, the only ones that is allowed to sell affordable EVs under 100k is P1 and P2? So there is totally no competition for affordable EVs below 100k and the choices will be either p1 or p2
.. been going on since the PMIV era with ICE cars, starting with P1 in 1985 & later with P2 in 1994. Not expecting any significant difference with EVs..
Our TIV is not large enough for every auto maker to consider CKD operations. This policy is definitely to protect the 2 local players and cronies. No need to spin a different story
One will realise why the need to continually protect the cronies when there are 2000 components in a ICE car compared to 100 components in a EV car – bingo there goes our special suppliers yummy yummy for decades.
useless policies and expect people to come here and invest. Just look at Thai policy and learn.
Everytime a Malaysian policy does not make sense, corruption is the reason behind it. Never fails
Anything comes out of our government that they are protecting our interests… I wanna laugh my head off… The government never really care about the people mostly about themselves. MITI can go fly kite