Bermaz Auto (BAuto) has called off its plan to bring Deepal electric vehicles to Malaysia, terminating its distribution agreement with the Chinese brand before the venture ever got off the ground.
In a filing with Bursa Malaysia, the company said its 85%-owned subsidiary Bermaz Changan Sdn Bhd (BCSB) entered into a termination agreement with Mobitech – a wholly-owned subsidiary of Chongqing Changan Automobile – on June 26, 2026, mutually ending the arrangement with immediate effect.
BCSB was the entity BAuto incorporated back in November 2024 specifically for the Deepal business, covering vehicle distribution, spare parts and after-sales services.
According to the company, the subsidiary never commenced operations in the roughly 19 months since – it currently has an issued share capital of just RM100, comprising 100 ordinary shares, of which BAuto holds 85.
BAuto said the two parties had been negotiating on several fronts – including which EV models to bring in and the expected retail pricing – but ultimately decided not to proceed amid the ongoing price war in the local EV market. The rights had originally been awarded by Mobitech, which manages the export of Changan group vehicles and spare parts.
When the deal was first announced, the Deepal S05 compact SUV and S07 mid-size SUV were lined up as the first models for Malaysia, expected to arrive as CBU units from Changan’s new plant in Rayong, Thailand. Those plans are now shelved.
The board said the mutual termination is in the best interests of the BAuto group, and added that it is not expected to have any material financial or operational impact on the group for the current financial year – unsurprising, given BCSB never traded a single car.
The collapse is a telling sign of just how brutal the Chinese EV influx has become here, with a steady stream of well-equipped, aggressively-priced models making it increasingly difficult for new entrants to carve out a viable business case.
With Deepal gone, XPeng now stands as BAuto’s only dedicated EV marque, distributed through the 85%-owned Bermaz XPeng Sdn Bhd. It’s also the latest brand to exit the group’s portfolio, following its earlier decisions to drop Kia in 2025 and Peugeot in 2024.
Other than XPeng, BAuto’s other core business remains the assembly and sale of Mazda vehicles in Malaysia.
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