Malaysians can look forward to buying Elon Musk’s Tesla electric vehicles (EV) with official warranty and support, backed by a Supercharger network very soon. Ministry of International Trade and Industry Tengku Zafrul Aziz has announced that his ministry has approved Tesla’s application to import Battery Electric Vehicles (BEV) into Malaysia.
He added that Tesla is the first applicant under MITI’s BEV Global Leaders initiative which aimed at boosting BEV demand in the local Malaysian market. With the latest approval by the Malaysian government, Tesla will establish its head office, Tesla Experience & Service Centres as well as build their Supercharger Network in the country.
The entry of @Tesla has been facilitated by MITI through the introduction of the BEV Global Leaders initiative which aims to help boost BEV demand in the local market.
— Tengku Zafrul 🇲🇾 (@tzafrul_aziz) March 1, 2023
Tesla is the first applicant of this initiative by MITI.
Early this month, there was some indication that Tesla is setting up shop in Malaysia after an update on their local business registration in Malaysia from Tesla Services Sdn Bhd to Tesla Sdn Bhd. The company’s nature of the business was updated to “Wholesale and retail of new motor vehicles”, “Other service activities incidental to land transportation N.E.C” and “Maintenance and Repair of motor vehicles”.
In Southeast Asia, Tesla is officially available in Singapore and Thailand, and this latest announcement could make Malaysia the third market for Tesla in the region. As revealed by the Ministry of Finance, the existing tax incentives for EVs will be extended under the revised Budget 2023. Fully imported (CBU) EVs will enjoy full import duty and excise duty exemptions until 31st December 2025, while locally assembled (CKD) EVs will enjoy full import duty, excise duty and sales tax until 31st December 2027. For right-hand-drive (RHD) markets, including the United Kingdom, Singapore, Australia and New Zealand, RHD EVs are imported from Tesla’s Giga Shanghai factory in China.
With official local Tesla presence and tax incentives, Malaysians may soon be able to get a Tesla Model 3 and Model Y with an official warranty from less than RM300,000. In Thailand, the Tesla Model 3 is priced from THB1,759,000 (about RM228,321) for the base rear-wheel-drive version and up to THB2,309,000 (about RM299,712) for the performance all-wheel-drive version. Meanwhile, the Telsa Model Y SUV is priced from THB1,959,000 (about RM254,282) for the rear-wheel drive model and THB2,509,000 (about RM325,672) for the performance all-wheel drive version.
