Tesla Inc. unveiled its mid-sized sport utility vehicle — the Model Y — at an event in downtown Kuala Lumpur on Thursday, providing a boost to the Southeast Asian nation’s efforts to promote sustainable mobility.
The rear-wheel drive model has a starting price of 199,000 ringgit, or about $44,000, with deliveries slated to begin early next year, the carmaker said in a release.
The launch comes a week after Malaysian Prime Minister Anwar Ibrahim held a virtual meeting with Tesla founder Elon Musk on investments involving the EV giant and SpaceX’s satellite Internet service.
Malaysia is focusing on the development of an EV ecosystem and has offered tax breaks to boost adoption, as part of its mission to meet net zero emission goals by 2050. The country has a target of having EVs — including hybrids — account for 15% of the total industry sales by 2030.
Southeast Asia has become an attractive battleground for EV makers, and the region is luring large investment commitments from several global vehicle and battery makers. BYD Co., China’s best-selling car brand, in December said it will sell its EVs in Malaysia, while Mercedes-Benz AG launched its first locally made EV in the country earlier this year.
“Malaysia has set a goal of building 10,000 charging stations by 2025, and Tesla is very much part of it,” said Isabel Fan, the company’s regional director for Hong Kong and Macau. Tesla has so far set up eight supercharging stations, stretching from Penang in northwest Malaysia to Johor in the south of the peninsula.
The starting price unveiled at the launch makes Malaysia the most affordable place to own Model Y’s base variant in the region after converting to local currency. The car is priced at 1,959,000 baht (256,149 ringgit) in Thailand and S$87,990 (301,687 ringgit) in Singapore, according to Tesla’s official website.
--With assistance from Danny Lee.
