The first-half numbers for 2026 are in, and Malaysia’s EV market has shrugged off its biggest test yet. A total of 31,738 fully electric vehicles were registered between January and June 2026, according to road transport department (JPJ) data, up 85.1% from the 17,143 units in the same period last year. That growth has come despite the import duty exemption for CBU electric vehicles expiring on December 31, 2025, which many expected would knock the wind out of the market.
Month by month, 2026 has beaten 2025 every single time. January’s 6,239 units were up 269% year-on-year, although that figure was flattered by the year-end rush, as buyers and distributors scrambled to beat the incentive deadline and registrations spilled over from a record December 2025 (8,123 units). February was the low point of the half at 3,635 units as the post-deadline hangover set in, yet even that was 68% ahead of the same month last year. The narrowest gap came in May, up 21.3%, before June closed the half with 6,215 units, up 89.9% and the strongest month since January.
The bigger picture is that EVs are now a meaningful slice of the overall market. Battery-electric vehicles accounted for 7.8% of all registrations in the first half of 2026, up from 4.3% a year earlier. Put another way, roughly one in every 13 new vehicles registered in Malaysia this year has been fully electric, against about one in 23 last year.
Where has the growth come from? Overwhelmingly, Proton. The national brand registered 13,530 EVs in the first half, up 238% from 4,003 a year ago, when the e.MAS 7 was its only electric model and the e.MAS 5 had yet to go on sale. Proton alone added around 9,500 units year-on-year, which is roughly two-thirds of the market’s entire increase. The newcomers helped too: iCaur (2,573 units) and TQ Wuling (461) did not exist here a year ago, Zeekr nearly quadrupled to 2,086, Leapmotor went from 87 units to 956, and MG tripled to 839.
BYD, last year’s EV champion, grew 5% to 5,675 units and has surrendered the lead to Proton by a wide margin. Tesla is down 18% year-on-year at 1,962 units despite its June quarter-end surge, and BMW, once the biggest of the legacy EV players, fell 58% to 376 units.
The second half will be a tougher comparison. With 31,738 units on the board by June, 2026 has already reached 71% of last year’s full-year record of 44,813, and merely matching the 27,670 units of the second half of 2025 would take the year to around 59,000, up a third. But last year’s second half built steadily towards that December incentive rush, a base that will not be easy to beat without a deadline to chase. You can explore the full EV picture, by model, brand and month, on our car sales data tool.
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Where’s the sozai… china ppl buy tesla! bla bla bla!
PMX continue support TESLA! make them baby
the eMAS 5 is not bad, spacious and modern.
A-segment power B-segment price C-segment size, sophisticated interior.
Wheelbase is 10mm longer than the Corolla Cross.
no auto folding side mirrors, no power seat.
E.mas 5 is an economy car. So can’t expect them to throw these in. Do you want them to raise the price by another RM 10,000 and give these? No, right? So then, chill. Proton also need to make money.
understood your point, but the original geely model in china does come with those features. so naturally malaysian will ask why we dont get those. after all we malaysia do speak mandarin and educated in srjkc UEC school so its only fair that we drive an equivalent car.
BMW’s fall is sweet schadenfreude.
thankiu johari. protek geely.
The trend is at it’s hottest now we will remember ice car like we remember nokia
Imagine BYD’s sales without MITI kacau