has officially entered Malaysia via a newly-formed company called BYD SD Motors Malaysia, a subsidiary under the Sime Darby group of companies.
The first model to be introduced by BYD is the , an electric SUV that’s roughly the size of a . Prices of the Atto 3 start from RM 149,800, making it one of the most affordable electric vehicles (EV) in Malaysia.
During the press conference, we asked BYD if they have plans to locally assemble (CKD) their range of models here.
According to a BYD spokesperson, plans for CKD depends on government initiatives.
With that said, if BYD wants to take advantage of the tax-free period to locally assemble EVs in Malaysia, they have to make haste, as the exemption for import tax and excise tax is valid from 1-January 2022 until 31-December 2025. That’s roughly 36 months left.
The import tax and excise tax exemption for fully imported (CBU) cars are set to expire on 31-December 2023.
Tax incentive for BEVs, Malaysia | ||
---|---|---|
CKD | CBU | |
Import tax | 0% 1-Jan 2022 – 31-Dec 2025 |
0% 1-Jan 2022 – 31-Dec 2023 |
Excise tax | 0% 1-Jan 2022 – 31-Dec 2025 |
0% 1-Jan 2022 – 31-Dec 2023 |
Sales tax | 0% 1-Jan 2022 – 31-Dec 2025 |
5% until 30-Jun 2022, 10% after |
Road tax | RM 0 15-Feb 2022 – 31-Dec 2025 |
|
Personal income tax | Up to RM 2.5k rebate for expenses on BEV charging hardware / services |
Furthermore, we also asked BYD if they have plans for more models in Malaysia. They replied by saying “It’s not our intention to stop here [with the Atto 3], we are definitely going to introduce more models. To as which model [we will launch here], we are doing evaluations. When it is time, we will definitely share with you all.”
That being said, we will miss out on the handsome BYD Han EV sedan and BYD Tang EV SUV, seeing that BYD has no plans for right-hand drive versions of the aforementioned models. Never mind Malaysia, bigger markets like Australia will also miss out of the Han and Tang.
“But everything we’re bringing in the right-hand-drive market is either on the 3.0 platform or future platforms, where the Han and the Tang are built on a different platform that is not coming to right-hand-drive markets,” said Luke Todd, managing director of EVDirect, BYD’s Australia importer and distributor.
Keyword: BYD: CKD EVs in Malaysia possible but highly dependent on government policy