With electric vehicles (EVs) on sale in the country now being completely exempt from import and excise duties as a result of government incentives announced during Budget 2022, it’s no surprise to see more players joining the fray, with the introduction of new products and the development of charging infrastructure continuing to pick up pace.
However, not everyone is rushing into the game. One such company is Volkswagen Passenger Cars Malaysia (VPCM), which says it has no immediate plans to deploy electrics locally just yet. Speaking on the sidelines of the launch of the Tiguan Allspace facelift at PACE 2022 earlier today, VPCM MD Erik Winter said the company is still deliberating on its EV direction.
“You might be aware that Volkswagen is investing quite heavily in battery electric vehicles (BEV), specifically the ID family. Which is quite obvious, because it’s a worldwide trend. All manufacturers are investing and developing in that direction, and so are countries, so, of course, we’ll also join in that direction.”
“While we are looking into that, we don’t have anything to offer yet, we don’t have anything concrete to tell you. The only thing we can tell you is that we are doing our level best to introduce BEVs in Malaysia,” he said.
Winter said things will begin to move when there is enough demand. “What you see now in the last weeks are more brands launching their cars. However, we do not see a very big demand yet from customers asking us or our dealers about e-mobility. Of course, we see customers asking for it, but there’s no big demand yet,” he said
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They’re right. We as a nation are still a long way from EVs becoming mainstream. Until a law is passed where condo/apartment dwellers have the “right to charge”, this will continue to be a pipe dream because where do EVs excel in practical use? That’s right, in cities, and most city residents live in condos.