This week, the Malaysian minister of investment, trade and industry Johari Abdul Ghani met with his Japanese counterpart, parliamentary vice-minister of economy, trade and industry Takuo Komori, in an effort to strengthen longstanding economic relations between the two countries. While these talks aren’t usually of interest to automotive media, one of the topics mentioned did pique our curiosity.
In his Facebook post, Johari said that the duo broached the subject of a “Daihatsu-Perodua partnership in developing electric vehicles in Malaysia.” While we are of course not privy to the details of what they discussed, those in the know will tell you that there is no such partnership in existence – at least, not publicly, not yet.
This is because while Daihatsu is a major Perodua shareholder and has supplied platforms, engines, gearboxes and even entire cars throughout the latter’s 33 years in existence, the national carmaker’s new EV, the QV-E, was designed wholly in-house and does not share a single part with any Daihatsu.
Perodua shouldered the responsibility of the entire project out of necessity, partly due to the looming government deadline to launch a locally-badged EV. Mostly, however, it was because Daihatsu did not have an EV for the company to base its car on. That’s still the case today – in fact, Daihatsu hardly even produces any hybrids, with the only offering being the Rocky e-Smart Hybrid (yes, the same one that became the lease-only Ativa Hybrid).
Which makes talk of a partnership all the more intriguing, and it could lead to one of two outcomes. The first is that Daihatsu simply rebadges the QV-E as its own car, which isn’t out of the ordinary – after all, the Sirion in Indonesia is effectively a Myvi with D badges, plus it’s built here to boot.
A Japanese brand using EV tech from Malaysia sounds far-fetched at face value, but it makes sense because the small car specialist’s lack of electrified models leaves it vulnerable to competition from Chinese EV makers. That’s less of a problem in its home market, where its offerings are on the smaller side, playing to its strengths; its customers’ more traditional buying habits also mean it can stave off full electrification for a while longer.
It’s more of an issue in Daihatsu’s largest overseas market in Indonesia, where the company risks losing market share to rivals like BYD. With the its high local content, the QV-E would benefit from reduced taxes as part of the ASEAN Free Trade Area (AFTA), even if it won’t be offered the same incentives as CKD locally-assembled EVs.
The other possibility is that Daihatsu could be a participant in Perodua’s future EV development, and indeed the said possibility was raised by Perodua president and CEO Zainal Abidin Ahmad earlier this year. “We’ve done the EV ourselves. But we’ve gotten enquiries from them to join us in our EV development,” he said then, adding that even Toyota has offered the company a chance to build its EVs.
Remember, Toyota’s own EVs were the result of joint ventures with other carmakers, such as Subaru (bZ4X and its derivatives, including even the Lexus RZ) and Suzuki (Urban Cruiser). Securing Toyota and Daihatsu as clients – the student becoming the master, you could say – would be a major coup for Perodua, both as a means to increase exports and as vindication of its efforts to build its own EV from scratch.
“If you ask me, the learning process is really expensive, and it’s hard for us to recover 100% of the investment, unlike how we do it with ICE cars. But I feel proud of our people that we can develop a car and that it has opened their [Daihatsu and Toyota] eyes, and they’re now talking about collaboration,” Zainal said.
We do know that Perodua is working on a smaller A-segment model built on the same Magna Styer-developed EV platform as the QV-E, which would help amortise development costs and enable it to take on the Proton eMas 5. A Daihatsu and Toyota EV built on this architecture could provide the two companies with affordable models of their own; plus, their input may help resolve our single biggest gripe with the QV-E – its cheap-feeling interior.
Over to you now – are you excited about the prospect of a Perodua wearing a Daihatsu (or even a Toyota) badge? Let us know in the comments.
GALLERY: Perodua QV-E
