Neta V Malaysia: Small Chinese EV with 384km range coming May 4, priced at RM70k?

It seems as if there’s a new brand launching an electric car in Malaysia every month. Hot on the heels of Great Wall Motor, BYD, Jaguar and Lotus is Neta, a relatively unknown marque by Chinese carmaker Hozon Auto.

The brand is being brought in by Intro Synergy, a subsidiary of Go Auto; if the latter name sounds familiar, that’s because it’s the same firm that distributes GWM vehicles. The company is working fast—it was only just appointed the distributor on April 18, and it’s already opening orders for its first car, the Neta V, in two weeks as part of the Malaysia Autoshow, happening from May 4 to 7.

Billed as “the affordable EV you’re waiting for,” the Neta V is a hatchback smaller than even the Ora Good Cat. Measuring 4,070mm long, 1,690mm wide and 1,540mm tall, it’s longer and taller but narrower than a Perodua Myvi, and it has a shorter 2,420mm wheelbase.

Underneath the gawky body sits a bargain-basement interior that’s dominated by a huge 14.6-inch portrait touchscreen. A slim 12-inch monochrome LCD instrument display is positioned ahead of the driver, and amazingly there’s a 3.3kW vehicle-to-load (V2L) function for powering appliances and charging devices. Given this car’s positioning, you can forget about any driver assistance systems; instead, there are just two airbags and stability control, although a reverse camera is fitted.

The unimpressive specs continue with the mechanicals. The single front motor produces just 94hp (70kW) and 150Nm of torque, and while Neta is claiming an acceleration time of 3.9 seconds, it’s only from zero to 50km/h. That’s not a surprise, given that its top speed is just 101km/h.

Still, the 38.5kWh battery is enough to deliver an impressive 384km of range, albeit on the far more lenient NEDC cycle. The Neta V also supports an impressive 100kW of DC fast charging power, bringing the battery from 30 to 80% (weird metric, I know) in 30 minutes. It also accepts up to 6.6kW of AC charging, fully topping up the car in around eight hours. Additionally, the barebones construction and small battery means it weighs just 1,151kg.

All this makes sense when you look at the price. Intro Synergy hasn’t released a concrete figure yet, but in Thailand, the car retails at 549,000 baht (around RM70,819) after incentives. If this is any indication of Malaysian pricing, it will be the cheapest EV in Malaysia by some margin, competing against the (admittedly more substantial) Perodua Ativa on cost alone.

And that’s just the start—the Go Auto group and its partners have plans to spend RM300 million over five years on an assembly plant as well as the sales and service networks to support the brand’s vehicles. You may also be able to look forward to Neta’s other vehicles like the S, GT and U-II, all of which are far larger, more powerful and sportier than the V.