Just in time, after 7 months of Proton announcing their EV assembly plant in Tanjung Malim, today Malaysian Prime Minister Anwar Ibrahim launched the first phase of the EV assembly plant which is now complete and ready to begin operations. What is even more impressive is that this is also the first EV plant in Malaysia.
For the first phase, this plant can produce up to 20,000 units of electric vehicles, and depending on the response and demand, the next phase will allow the assembly to be increased to 40,000 units per year. This plant will also develop cars that use the GMA (Global Modular Architecture) architecture, hence we will see the Proton e.MAS 7, e.MAS 5 and possibly more new models that will be born from this plant.
The Proton e.MAS 7 and e.MAS 5 will also begin assembly at this plant, allowing them to be sold at a cheaper price taking advantage of local assembly (CKD). The Proton e.MAS 7 is an electric vehicle that outperforms the market, while the Proton e.MAS 5 is just waiting for its time to go on sale. With this EV factory, production will certainly be boosted and will have an economic impact and also technological development around the Automotive High-Tech Valley (AHTV).
In other news, the Group Managing Director of DRB-HICOM also shared that Proton is also in the process of developing their own car, which will be introduced later. In fact, at the same event, a memorandum of understanding was signed between AHTV and KTM as well as Railway Assets Corporation to study rail transportation as an automotive logistics solution involving the Behrang railway station.