At today’s launch of the Proton S70, Proton chairman Datuk Seri Syed Faisal Albar confirmed in his opening speech that Proton will launch its first electric vehicle (EV) soon. An exact date wasn’t given but we can expect a Proton EV to be introduced by 2025, in line with the ministry of international trade and industry’s (MITI) expectations.
In his speech, Syed Faisal recalled a poem recited by MITI minister Tengku Datuk Seri Zafrul Abdul Aziz at the launch of the smart #1 last week:
We look forward to drive the smart
Proton looks like you’re in your prime
So, for Proton, this is a good start
Can we drive the Proton EV in two years’ time?
Responding to Zafrul’s poem with his own, Syed Faisal then proceeded to recite:
Pantun YB bertanyakan kami
Apakah EV keluar dua tahun lagi
Teknologi EV kami tengah kemaskini
Akan dilancar tak berapa lagi
As a brief recap, MITI said last week that the government is optimistic that Proton and Perodua can produce the first national electric vehicle (EV) by 2025, which is a target revealed by deputy MITI minister Liew Chin Tong in parliament two weeks ago.
At present, fully-imported (CBU) EVs are currently exempt from import and excise duty, but the government has set a floor price of RM100,000, which means no CBU EVs can be sold under that mark. This was put in place to allow local players to prepare themselves for electrification.
“We are giving them (local carmakers) time to prepare for EVs. There have been questions as to why we are not liberalising quicker, but we have to look at the big picture to protect our local automotive industry for a while so that there is a just transition, because it does relate to a lot of employment, from jobs to suppliers,” Zafrul told paultan.org in July.
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Rebadging a China ev doesn’t count as developing.
Make sure you put in enough test hours on your safety, hope no repeat of X90 fire, which denting the public’s confidence.
So will it be a truebreed Proton design or a carry over from Geely? Seeing how long it took for the S70, X90 to come out locally by the time the E30, E50, E70 and the like come out in 2025 other competitors like BYD, Tesla would have models like Kraken, Whale, Shark, Walrus, Polar Bear, Penguin, Model 2 etc
At least Geely have SMART, Volvo, Lotus to get input for its Electric car. But does Geely have a budget priced EV like BYD?
P2 is in a worst position as the parent company Toyota is very late to the BEV race with the BZ4X being very not competitive when compared to equally priced EVs. Being Japanese and conservative it is unlikely they will rush an axia EV or Myvi EV anytime soon. 2030 maybe have some affordable EV from P2.
The time is ticking for P1 and P2 as by 2025 there will be more choice in the EV range and the 100k limit removed.
Wrong. < RM100k ICE vehicles are here to stay.
Think greater KL. Think outskirts of Klang Valley. Think other tier-2 cities. ALL its people will hold on dear life to their ICE, paid/paying 9-year loans through their noses. The affluent liberal progressive religious believers of climate science can go play with their EVs to save polar bears from extinction all you want. But please not at the expense of the poor downtrodden majority.
You mean geely-derived? Lol. There is nothing national-pride about it minus the proton badge. Stop being delusional zafrul and that shameless proton chairman
Forever.. Then on 2025 will be another 2 years
Actually my expectation from Proton is a better Saga instead of EV.
I love that thing and non of the Geely stuff.
Please make a better Saga with good parts. Make it reliable and affordable and give Myvi a run for the money.
Sejak lama dah banyak cakap tentang EV,
Which rebadge model will this be?
Can we tutup proton please and just let geely brand in. Duhhh. Proton is hopeless lah at this point. They only develop logos only. National embarassment.
“Geely is bringing their EVs to Malaysia” would be a better title.
when can i see fireworks in Malaysia?
Lets hope Proton will create a design contest between the 4 prominent names in car design namely Proton Head of Design Azlan Othman, independent car designer Shaharudin and 2 masters of renderings Theophilus Chin and Ajerul and see who will win.
Let the public give 50% of total score based on their personal feel on the outcome.