May 2025 saw BYD keep Malaysia’s EV sales crown on its head with 1,148 units, according to the road transport department’s (JPJ) data. Tesla leapt from selling just 108 units in April to a surprising 1,075 in May, overtaking Proton’s 862 (the company announced 916 including exports) for second place. Of course, Proton currently only has one EV model, versus Tesla’s two and BYD’s five. Still on the month of May, BMW took fourth with a modest 179 units despite having many EV models on sale, although it’s an improvement over the 119 it managed in April. Denza (129) and Xpeng (125) are almost equal – Denza currently sells one model; Xpeng two. In seventh and eighth respectively are Chery (116) and Zeekr (105) – Chery has one EV model; Zeekr two. All other brands were sub-100 unit sellers in May. What about the EV brands’ year-to-date (YTD) scorecard? BYD is still top with 4,355 units, having closed March, April and May with four-digit sales each. The runner-up is Proton with 3,399 (excluding 233 exports), while Tesla (1,810) is third after quite an up-and-down five months. Apart from a hiccup in February (short month?), BMW has posted relatively consistent monthly sales to end up fourth in the YTD standings (766 units), while Denza, having only launched the D9 MPV in February, is at a very commendable fifth place (524), with Xpeng (505) hot on its heels. Rounding up the top 10 are Zeekr (465), Porsche (276), MINI (227) and MG (224). Chery (213), although seventh in May because it sold a respectable 116 units, is outside the top 10 where YTD is concerned, due to two-digit monthly sales throughout the first four months of the year.
