BYD is expected to make a major announcement regarding its future plans in Malaysia within the next week and the signs are increasingly pointing towards a potential partnership with Sime Motors to locally assemble BYD electric vehicles (EV).
According to Bernama, BYD Vice President and General Manager of BYD APAC’s Auto Sales Division Liu Xueliang said the Chinese NEV brand will soon reveal its approach towards sustainable development in Malaysia.
“Our development in Malaysia has been progressing very well. Very soon, we will announce our approach towards sustainable development,” Liu told a visiting Malaysian media delegation in Shenzhen, China.
When asked whether BYD would work with a local partner or pursue another approach in Malaysia, Liu remained tight-lipped. He said, “Wait another week and we will announce it.”
The upcoming announcement is particularly interesting given the recent developments involving BYD and Sime Motors, which could provide more clues on the Chinese automaker’s long-awaited CKD plans in Malaysia.
Sime Motors and BYD step up discussions in Shenzhen
Most recently, Sime Motors revealed that its leadership team visited BYD’s headquarters in Shenzhen to strengthen its collaboration with the Chinese automaker.
According to Sime Motors, the visit was aimed at facilitating knowledge transfer and holding in-depth discussions to support BYD’s continued growth in Malaysia.
“The visit provided an opportunity for both teams to align on strategic priorities and identify areas of mutual interest in support of Malaysia’s growing mobility ecosystem,” Sime Motors said on its Facebook post.
It added, “We remain committed to working closely with our partners to drive the continued development of the automotive industry in Malaysia.”
While Sime Motors did not specifically mention local assembly, the timing of the visit is noteworthy given BYD’s promise of an announcement within a week.
It also follows another significant meeting between the two companies earlier this year.
Earlier in May, Liu and the BYD team visited Inokom’s vehicle assembly plant in Kulim, Kedah.
Inokom is a subsidiary of Sime Motors that provides contract vehicle manufacturing services. The Kulim plant already has experience assembling battery electric vehicles, including the BMW i5 and Chery Omoda E5.
At the time, the visit appeared to signal that BYD was still looking to establish CKD operations in Malaysia, although potentially through an existing local manufacturing partner instead of going it alone.
Neither BYD nor Sime Motors has officially confirmed a contract assembly arrangement at Inokom.
However, with Sime Motors subsequently sending its leadership team to BYD’s headquarters in Shenzhen for further discussions, the possibility of a BYD-Inokom CKD arrangement appears to be becoming more possible.
What happened to BYD’s Tanjung Malim CKD plant?
BYD originally announced in August 2025 that it planned to establish its own local assembly plant in Tanjung Malim, Perak, which was expected to become operational in 2026.
However, the status of the project has remained unclear following changes to Malaysia’s automotive policies. At the time, MITI’s mandated conditions to BYD include setting approved sales volume of 10,000 units for the domestic market which makes up 20% of BYD’s total production capacity. This means, 80% would have to be exported.
MITI issued a clarification on 31st March stating that BYD was not singled out and its existing policies applies to any new CKD entrant from September 2025 except for those who are using existing local assembly facilities. It also stated that the minimum on-the-road (OTR) price for CKD EV is RM100,000.
As recently as August, Minister of Investment, Trade and Industry Datuk Seri Johari Abdul Ghani said MITI had yet to receive any official notification from BYD on whether it would proceed with its proposed Tanjung Malim investment.
“Regarding BYD, which Yang Berhormat mentioned, so far MITI has not received any official notification on whether they will continue 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, postpone or change the investment plan is a commercial decision of the companies,” Johari said in the Dewan Negara.
Meanwhile, its recent engagements with Sime Motors and Inokom suggest that BYD could be considering an alternative route to local assembly.
CKD becoming increasingly important for BYD in Malaysia
Establishing local assembly has become increasingly important for BYD following Malaysia’s tighter requirements for fully imported EVs.
Effective 1 July 2026, newly approved fully imported EVs are required to have a minimum Cost, Insurance and Freight value of RM200,000 and a minimum power output of 180kW. The move would effectively push fully imported (CBU) EVs prices above RM300,000.
The new policy poses a significant challenge for BYD’s mainstream EV strategy in Malaysia, especially when bulk of its popular models are priced well below RM200,000 and are equipped with single motor pushing 150kW (201hp) and below. This includes the BYD Atto 2, Atto 3, M6 and Seal 6.
A local assembly arrangement through an existing facility such as Inokom could potentially provide BYD with a faster route and fewer barriers to CKD production compared to establishing its own manufacturing plant.
Despite the uncertainty surrounding its manufacturing strategy, Liu reaffirmed BYD’s commitment to long-term investment in Malaysia.
He also highlighted East Malaysia as an area with significant growth potential.
“We believe East Malaysia still has significant room for development, but first, we hope to have suitable models for the East Malaysian market,” Liu said.
He added that BYD’s strategy covers Malaysia as a whole and is not confined to any particular region.
More details will be revealed next week. Coincidentally, BYD is also expected to announce its new Atto 3 Performance variant next week which offers dual-motor in AWD configuration.
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