Blueshark’s journey in Malaysia has just got a bit more interesting as the electric motorcycle brand now has Petronas on its side to further grow in our market. The national oil and gas company has had a relationship with Blueshark since 2022, but its role is now much larger than before.
Petronas Dagangan, through its subsidiary PDB Growth Solutions, has teamed up with the brand’s Malaysian subsidiary, Blueshark Ecosystem to create a new joint venture (JV) called Blueshark Malaysia. The new JV is now the exclusive distributor for all Blueshark electric two-wheelers, including the upcoming SoloEra models that will be launched this June.
Petronas: from partner to JV shareholder
As mentioned earlier, Petronas’ partnership with Blueshark began in late 2022 when Petronas Dagangan agreed to roll out Blueshark battery swapping stations (known as Bluestations) at selected Petronas stations. The new JV will continue to perform this role in addition to being the distributor of Blueshark products for Malaysia.
There are currently 20 Blueshark battery swapping stations in Klang Valley, Johor Bharu and Penang. Petronas Dagangan has confirmed that the new JV will deploy more Bluestations throughout Malaysia very soon, although the company did not provide further details regarding the expansion plan.
Meanwhile, the brand’s existing partnership with EP Manufacturing (EPMB) to locally assemble Blueshark electric motorcycles in Malaysia will still go on under the new JV. In fact, we have since learned that the upcoming SoloEra motorcycles will be locally assembled at the EPMB facility in Glenmarie starting next month.
All in all, the new JV is largely a continuation to what Blueshark Ecosystem has been doing in Malaysia since the arrival of Blueshark in our market. The difference is that now Petronas is in the picture as a shareholder of Blueshark Malaysia which may help the Blueshark expand its footprint over here.
While we are still on the subject of Blueshark, don’t forget to check out our review of Blueshark R1, which is one of the two offerings that Blueshark has for Malaysia at the moment.
