MITI: BYD Tanjung Malim plant’s status is still up in the air

The Ministry of Investment, Trade, and Industry (MITI) has yet to receive any official information regarding BYD’s assembly plant in Tanjung Malim. This was revealed by its minister, Datuk Seri Johari Abdul Ghani, in a response to a question by Senator Tan Sri Dato’ Low Kian Chuan during a Dewan Negara session earlier today.

According to the MP of Titiwangsa, the decision on this matter is up to BYD itself:

“Regarding BYD which Yang Berhormat mentioned, so far MITI has not received any official notification, whether or not they will continue or not the investment that will be made in Tanjung Malim with the conditions set by the government.

For Yang Berhormat’s knowledge, any decision to continue or postpone or change the investment plan is a commercial decision of the companies.” – Minister of Investment, Trade, and Industry, Datuk Seri Johari Abdul Ghani.

In general, this means the status of the BYD Tanjung Malim plant, which was originally announced in August 2025, is still unclear. However, from what we witnessed back in May, it seems that BYD may have its sights somewhere else.

The signs are pointing to Kulim, though

In case you missed our earlier report,  Sime Motors has revealed that the Vice President of BYD and General Manager of BYD APAC’s Auto Sales Division, Liu Xueliang, has visited Inokom’s assembly plant in Kulim, Kedah.

Inokom is a subsidiary of Sime Motors that provides contract manufacturing services, and the Kulim plant already has experience assembling BEVs, including Chery Omoda E5 and BMW i5 CKD. However, there have been no further updates from BYD and Sime Motors since the visit took place.

Nevertheless, Liu has also said that BYD will continue to bring its “best technology” (such as Flash Charge) and products to Malaysia at the launch of BYD Mansion Macalister in Penang, which took place in the same month. After the Kulim and Penang outing, the company has indeed rolled out several new vehicles in Malaysia, including the Atto 3 FL, the Sealion 7 refresh, and the Denza Z9 GT.