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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