Since there is no dedicated EV rental here, could BYD push for it?
At this point, we are all familiar with BYD and what they are all about, so it should come as no surprise then, that the brand has entered an agreement with SIXT, an international car rental provider, to supply them with a fleet of 100,000 vehicles for their service, the question now is, will they do this in Malaysia too?
So Malaysia has its fair share of rentals, I personally have also used a private rental agency when I was in University and of course, everyone knows about SOCAR. Clearly, we do not lack options but we do lack a fleet of EV rentals and that is a fact nobody can deny.
Moreover, anyone who has ever used SOCAR can probably vouch for me on the fact that sometimes, you just can’t get the car you want for the time period you need, either someone already booked the car for a time slot after you and it clashes with your plans or sometimes the car you want is already booked, it’s frustrating.
On top of that, when it comes to private rental agencies, there is a always a chance your car may show up late or the previous renter may have left some personal belongings behind and you now have to turn the car around after leaving just to return their things to them, this is equally as frustrating, in my opinion.
So now we ask, with BYD already setting up shop in Thailand and announcing their plans to expand globally, what’s stopping them from setting up a similar service here in Malaysia? It would certainly make a pretty penny as there is no dedicated EV rental market here so BYD would essentially be the first and only one in this business.
What’s more, a whole fleet of 100,000 vehicles would, no doubt, help to increase the number of people renting cars as a major concern among renters now is the lack of cars to go around in the first place so by BYD entering the rental market with this many cars or perhaps even more may be just what we need here in Malaysia.
So what do you guys think about this? Are you hopeful BYD will bring this service to Malaysia as well? I am unsure but I personally don’t think they will although I hope I’m wrong. I guess we shall have to wait and see.
