THE New Industrial Master Plan 2030, to be launched in August, will capitalise on the US$2.7 billion (RM12.6 billion) Asean electric vehicle (EV) market, said Investment, Trade and Industry Minister Tengku Zafrul Abdul Aziz.

He said Chery Malaysia’s plan to inject an initial capital of RM170 million for its local expansion strategies will not only provide variety and excitement in the auto market, but also increase Malaysia’s gross domestic product (GDP) through strategic sectoral growth.

As part of its global expansion, the Chinese state-owned automobile manufacturer announced the RM170 million injection, which will provide 4,000 high-paying, high-skilled jobs for Malaysians in the next five years.

“Mass electrification from the automotive sector fits in well with the country’s national environmental, social and (corporate) governance and net-zero agendas from the manufacturing industry’s perspective. We have already started pushing for higher EV penetration within our country.

“As Malaysia is a major electrical and electronics manufacturing hub in Southeast Asia, automakers like Chery can easily leverage on this to help grow Malaysia’s production of next-generation vehicles,” he said in his speech at the launch of Chery Malaysia’s Tiggo 8PRO and Omoda 5 in in Kuala Lumpur today.

Chery Malaysia, Tengku Zafrul said, is aiming for its EV and plug-in hybrid EV models to reach around 20% of the EV market share in Malaysia by as early as 2024, and will introduce affordable models in future.

“The Investment, Trade and Industry Ministry welcomes these initiatives as they are aligned with our national aspiration of having 15% total industry volume (TIV) be electrified vehicles (EV and hybrid) by 2030, and 38% of TIV by 2040,” he said.

The minister said Malaysia has a dynamic automotive industry that supports over 700,000 workers in its ecosystem, accounting for over 4.4% of the Malaysian workforce.

Its contribution to Malaysia’s GDP averages about 4-5% annually, and it delivered RM64.5 billion to the GDP in 2022.

Tengku Zafrul said his ministry aims to increase the sector’s GDP contribution to RM104.2 billion by 2030. – Bernama, July 6, 2023.