During the launch of the new Proton X90, Geely’s Founder and Chairman Eric Li Shufu shared the Group’s plans to support Proton’s electrified future. Starting with the Proton X90, Geely wants to empower Proton in the New Energy Vehicle (NEV) transformation with the goal of launching at least one NEV model every year.
To further support Proton, Geely will help the national carmaker to cultivate 5,000 NEV talents in the company within five years. Geely also wants to enable Proton to become a leader of NEV in ASEAN countries and to build the NEV ecosystem in Malaysia.
Eric Li shared that Zeekr, Smart, Geely Galaxy and Lotus Cars EVs have been very well received in the market. At the moment, Geely’s NEV vehicles account for more than 30% of its monthly sales and it aims to increase its NEV sales figures to exceed 50% this year.
NEV are essentially electrified vehicles which include hybrid electric vehicles, fuel cell electric vehicles and battery electric vehicles. The Proton X90 is the brand’s first hybrid albeit a mild one which has a 48V electric motor providing extra assistance to the 1.5-litre turbo 3-cylinder engine.
During Prime Minister Anwar Ibrahim’s speech, he said Proton is talking about the future with an ecosystem that meets Environmental, social and governance (ESG). He said Eric Li told him about an immediate initiative, not necessarily EV immediately because the infrastructure has been not well placed, but to have a transition to have both the capacity for EV together with petroleum and gas.
Anwar added this would then facilitate the transition and look pragmatically at the need to change or to affect change, but at the same to be ready to undertake an immediate task and that should be a priority. “We are talking about 100,000 people to be employed, half a million families affected and RM100 billion has been spent on purchasing components, and that value is much higher when the multiplier effect is taken into account,” said the Prime Minister.
From the sounds of it, Geely isn’t ready to let Proton go all in on fully electric vehicles and its NEV future is going to be hybrid. Since Geely and Proton have started local assembly of their 1.5 TGDi engines at Tanjung Malim, we can probably expect upcoming new Proton models to run on a similar mild hybrid system as the X90.
Geely’s stance appears to be the same as four years ago when we asked them about the potential of bringing Geely’s Geometry EVs to the Malaysian market. Geely said before they can make EVs available in a country, the country needs to be ready to accept electric cars, specifically in terms of infrastructure for the cars and incentives for the manufacturer, supplier and buyers.
Victor Yang, Vice President of Public Relations of the Zhejiang Geely Holding Group told us in 2019, “We have not decided whether to bring Geometry to Malaysia or not because to promote the commercial use of pure electric cars, you need always in the starting period some help from the country.”
“You have to see that pure electric cars need support from the facilities as well. You need to setup charging stations; you need to make all these facilities ready for the development of pure electric cars,” he added. Victor said, “It’s not that Malaysians are not interested in fully electric vehicles, rather the Government is not clear on where it wants to go with regards to new energy transportation like electric vehicles.”
Previously, Proton said that it will only start producing EVs in 2027 which is seen as too late as most carmakers have accelerated the production of electrified vehicles and more countries are encouraging the adoption of electric vehicles as part of their initiatives to achieve net-zero greenhouse gas (GHG). The Ministry of International Trade and Industry (MITI) has recently urged both Proton and Perodua to expedite the production of affordable EVs in Malaysia and it seems that Proton is now aiming for 2025 for their first EV model. Proton’s Deputy CEO Roslan Abdullah said that Proton is currently in the process of identifying suitable models of electric vehicles that are more affordable and practical together with Geely.
So far, there are only two carmakers assembling EVs in Malaysia. This includes Volvo which assembles the Volvo XC40 and C40 EVs, and Mercedes-Benz with its CKD EQS500.
Recently, BYD Auto and Hozon announced plans to expand their production of NEV in Thailand. These two brands are known for their fully electric BYD Atto 3 as well as the Neta V which was recently launched in Malaysia as the cheapest EV.
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