Proton’s affordable EV, the eMas 5, was officially launched yesterday. Perodua bila lagi, some are asking. Perodua president and CEO Datuk Seri Zainal Abidin Ahmad told us on the sidelines of the 2025 Japan Mobility Show in Tokyo that the EV is now in the final stage, and that pilot production has already started at the company’s Rawang base. As such, Malaysia’s first homegrown EV is on track for a 2025 launch, as promised.
Will it be a like-for-like rival to the Proton eMas 5? Malaysia’s first homegrown EV – which could carry the QV-E name – is different in many ways. For one, it’s designed and developed in-house by Perodua (the eMas 5 is a rebadged Geely Xingyuan and the first batch is CBU imported from China), and Zainal says that P2 holds the (IP) intellectual property for the EV’s design and platform.
Yes, platform too – Perodua’s first electric car will use CATL-supplied LFP batteries, but that’s the extent of the Chinese battery giant’s involvement.
The product itself will be of a different segment, in both size, EV specs and sophistication. The eMas 5’s WLTP range is 225 km for the Prime and a more useful 325 km for the Premium – we can expect around 450 km WLTP range for the Perodua QV-E (real-world range of between 400 to 410 km was previously mentioned), which is a significant step up – in fact, 450 km beats even the eMas 7, which maxes out at 410 km WLTP.
Range aside, Perodua’s performance targets for its EV – 0-100 km/h between six and seven seconds, and a top speed of around 160 km/h – are also streets ahead of the eMas 5, which comes with 0-50 km/h figures instead of the usual 100 km/h benchmark.
The difference in both products is plain to see from the P2 EV’s design, which was previewed in very accurate form (we were showed images of the production car in Tokyo but no pics of the pics were allowed) in the latest eMO concept a.k.a. Aspirations that was revealed in May.
Looking a bit like the Toyota C-HR+ EV that surfaced in March, P2’s electric crossover design is contemporary and should have more universal appeal than the cute look and organic shapes of the eMas 5, which was designed in accordance to China market preferences – rightly so, as the Xingyuan has gone on to be a top-seller in its home market.
Price wise, the Perodua QV-E will not undercut the eMas 5 (RM57k to RM70k with early bird rebates) – expect it to be around the RM80k mark. However, one brave and novel feature is the ‘guaranteed future value’ scheme that Zainal previously mentioned – GFV, used by premium makes such as Mercedes-Benz, will shield buyers from the steep depreciation of EVs. Also not offered by any other EV seller in Malaysia now is P2’s battery leasing scheme.
The point of having a homegrown electric car is also to build up a local ecosystem for EVs, and Perodua is targeting around 50% local content for its EV by the middle of 2026, which is an admirable goal. This most probably won’t include key components such as the battery and electric motor – which will come from China – but there are plans to localise these too. However, sufficient volume is needed before this makes business sense.
Read all about Perodua’s first EV here, and find out more about the recently-launched P-Circle app that its owners will use. Just around the corner now!
GALLERY: Perodua eMO final prototype at MAS 2025
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