A to Z Chinese Car Brands In Malaysia: From Aion To Zeekr.
There are more Chinese car brands in Malaysia this year than ever before and it’s probably going to get even more crowded next year. Before 2025 rolls around I thought I’d give you an A-Z Guide To Chinese Car Brands In Malaysia.
Bear in mind that this is not a comprehensive explanation for each brand but a rough guide on what each brand is, who represents it in Malaysia and what models are being offered here.
A is for Aion
Aion is an EV sub-brand of GAC, Guangzhou Automobile Group Motor which we’ll get into when we reach ‘G’. For now what you need to know is this:
Aion is not a small fish even though it’s fairly new. The parent company is older than Malaysia.
In Malaysia they’re represented by WTCA, one of the sub-brands of Tan Chong – another old parent company like GAC.
Aion right now has two models for sale in Malaysia – the Y Plus, which is a compact MPV and the ES, which is a 4-door sedan.
Based on the models sold here, Aion appears to target a more mature audience that isn’t looking for an EV as a gimmick, rather EV as daily driver replacement. The Y Plus is a practical, no-frills vehicle with large opening rear doors while the ES looks to be a stripped down sedan with an attractive price point.
B is for BAIC
This one is complicated. BAIC stands for Beijing Automotive Industry Corporation Group and as the name suggests is another one of those older state-affiliated car brands.
They were supposed to be distributed by a smaller company with dealership experience. They showed a Jeep-inspired off-roader the BJ40 Plus and the X70 competitor the X55.
Then the CKD program was supposed to be done by EPMB, which is also doing CKD for GWM. However, nothing has materialised so far and now the future of the brand here is in question. We’ll have to standby for now.
B is also for Borgward
Sadly this one is dead. Dead twice actually. There’s some interesting history here. It was an old German car company and there are some interesting conspiracy theories floating around about how it died the first time.
There’s no mystery behind the 2nd death though. COVID happened and there was no room for another not-very premium European brand with Chinese manufacturing backing.
It’s an example of how difficult it is to run a car brand on a global and local level. Ultimately it’s the customers who suffers too as resale values plummet and parts become a concern.
B is ALSO for BYD
BYD is the giant on this list but they’re relatively young, starting out around 1995. In terms of passenger car sales, they’re extremely new to the game only exploding in numbers between 2020-2023. That being said, there’s no denying that this is one of the few Chinese brands that have entered the public’s consciousness alongside Tesla.
In Malaysia they are represented by a subsidiary of Sime Darby Motors (or should I say Sime Motors rebranding), called Beyond Auto. BYD is the first brand to be allowed to use a non-national dealer to sell cars – Harmony Auto.
Anyway that weirdness aside, BYD is interesting. They make their own batteries, almost exclusively LFP batteries. Range isn’t the best in class but they’re safer and don’t lose battery health so quickly when charged to full. This tech is not exclusive to BYD but it’s what they’re known for.
They started with the Atto 3 crossover and Dolphin hatchback but soon we got the aspirational Seal sedan and then the family-oriented M6 MPV and finally the Sealion 7 SUV Coupé.
BYD is the only EV brand that has consistently outsold Tesla in Malaysia since launch.
C is for Chery
Many Malaysians have experienced the Chery brand before, but not like this. Previously, Chery was represented by a different entity and the product range was far less ambitious than it is now. Chery is a relatively young (1997) car brand and has state affiliations with Anhui. They’ve been very focused on the export market from the beginning, targeting developing markets like Latin America and Russia particularly hard and becoming quite prominent in some markets.
Chery has quite a few sub-brands but the distinction between these sub-brands is hard to pin down sometimes. In Malaysia, they are currently representing themselves and have their own CKD operations in Shah Alam.
The strategy thus far has been to mirror Proton’s line-up of Geely-based SUVs and provide competition at a 5% or lower price difference.
The Omoda 5 fights off the X50, the Tiggo 7 Pro fights off the X70 and the Tiggo 8 Pro fights off the X90. There’s also an all-electric version of the Omoda 5.
D is for Dongfeng.
Dongfeng is another old state owned car company from a little city called Wuhan. Hmm, sounds familiar. Anyway, Dongfeng has some pretty tight collaborations with foreign partners like Nissan and Honda.
In Malaysia they’re represented by an associated company of PEKEMA, the Bumiputera vehicle trader association we all know and love. Right now they’ve only got one car for sale, the Dongfeng Box. This is an entry level hatchback like the BYD Dolphin. We’ll probably know more about this brand and their ambitions next year as the launch was in Malaysia was only in November.
G is for GAC
GAC, as we mentioned earlier, is being represented in Malaysia by WTC. They started off with the GS3, but now have the GS3 Emzoom which has a lot of power and interesting styling for a decent price. Keep an eye on this brand, as it may be the brand Tan Chong Group leans on if Nissan is unable to make a turn around.
G is for Great Wall Motor
Great Wall Motor (GWM) is another state owned Chinese brand, one of the bigger exporters in fact. They used to be focused on Military vehicles but they got better over the years and have a very clear segmentation of their sub-brands. GWM in Malaysia has been working with EPMB for CKD operations. Which we’ll transition to right here since what comes after G is H. GWM products tend to be sold under a sub-brand nowadays, but earlier models represented by Go Auto bore the GWM nameplate.
H is for Haval
The Haval brand represents GWM’s mainstream SUV line-up and right now there’s just the H6 HEV in Malaysia but that’s an interesting car. It’s a C-segment SUV for under Rm140K with a high powered turbo engine and a high output electric motor. High-powered hybrids are rare in the market and unheard of in the non-premium space. It’ll be interesting to see how well the H6 HEV is received by Malaysians as one of the few Chinese hybrid vehicles on sale today.
J is for JAC
JAC is a commercial vehicle company that just burst on the scene in Malaysia. The most interesting vehicle they have coming is the T9 pick-up truck. with the JAC T9, they’re trying to give you Wildtrak level of specifications for regular Ranger pricing on the diesel model. That’s just the first layer of what’s interesting, They’re also offering the T9 as a full EV, making it the first and only electric pick-up on sale in Malaysia. They’re also planning on introducing a rare petrol plug in hybrid and maybe even a range extender electric variant. Stay tuned for that. They also have a T8 EV, which honestly doesn’t look great but if you’re a major MNC that just need to meet some carbon credit score, it could be worth looking into.
J is for Jaecoo
Going from commercial vehicle to luxury aspirations, Jaecoo is an offshoot of Chery and by right, in China Jaecoo was being planned out as Omoda & Jaecoo, two lifestyle focused brands with different visions of luxury.
In Malaysia they’re starting off with the J7. Now it looks like some synergies are starting to form with Omoda, though they’re trying to distance themselves from that brand given the whole axle situation. So, the new offering at the end of 2024 is the Jaecoo C9 by Omoda. We wonder what it says on the grant.
J is for Jetour
Jetour is another Chery subsidiary that showed some models off at the Malaysia Autoshow in May. They say they’re independent of the rest of the group. We’ll have to wait for their launch to understand the pitch.
J is for JMC
JMC is being represented in Malaysia by another one of Tan Chong’s subsidiaries, Angka-Tan. From my understanding it’s mostly commercial vehicles but they do have one pick-up truck called the Vigus Pro. The Vigus Pro seems to be aimed at rough use, but the price isn’t steep, so if you need a beater pick-up it could be something worth looking into.
L is for Leapmotor
Leapmotor’s very interesting. They’re an extremely young company and they’re very tech focused and all about EVs. I’m not sure how they’re doing internally in China, but what I do know is that the European automotive conglomerate Stellantis is in partnership with them for the export market. The plan is to offer Leapmotor EVs that are made in China to Europe and the rest of the world via Stellantis’ dealer network.
Leapmotor in Malaysia has the C10. The key selling point of this EV is that it’s quite large, well-priced and has some interesting tech-features.
L is for Lotus
Lotus may be British in your eyes but it’s now mostly owned by Geely and they’ve ditched the “add lightness” mantra for “do whatever Geely wants” but they’ve got quite an interesting selection of cars to show for it.
In Malaysia they’re represented by Sentinel Automotive, which is relatively new but quite experienced in the car game via other ventures.
They sell the Eletre, Emeya, Emira. These are pitched as Porsche alternatives and are priced quite aggressively in that regard.
M is for Maxus
Maxus is all about commercial vehicles but they have a couple of passenger cars. We drove the G10 MPV before. It’s a sort of Alphard alternative with a 2.0L turbo 4-cylinder. Cheap and cheerful but ultimately it never sold in huge numbers. Now they’ve got the MIFA 9, a pure EV MPV.
They’re represented by Weststar. Strangely SAIC Malaysia, Maxus’ parent company, is not really so interested in forming synergies with Maxus in Malaysia. At least not yet. Conveniently, next on our list is…
M is for MG
This is SAIC’s export crown jewel. They bought this ailing British brand many years ago and restructured everything. They entered the market with 2 EVs – the MG4 and the ES.
The MG4 is interesting because it’s one model with a huge price spread. So the base model is as cheap as a Dolphin but the full spec model is almost as powerful as a Model 3. The ES, I’m not really sure what that is as I haven’t driven it.
They recently launched the MG5 which is a City/Vios competitor with a simple engine and on the high end there’s the Cyberster which is the ONLY convertible EV you can get and at a decent price too. Interesting brand to watch.
N is for Neta
Neta’s a pretty new company, very EV focused. It’s a subsidiary of Honzo, which is 10 years old. Their production volume doesn’t seem too high and there are already talks of problems in China. The thing is they focused the budget market and unfortunately the EV game is pretty cutthroat, meaning the moment higher tier EV brands started to slash prices, Neta found itself in a tough spot.
In Thailand we saw quite a few because it’s not expensive there but in Malaysia we have an artificial price barrier so cars like the Neta V end up being priced nearly double what they should be. Anyway, the Neta X looks pretty good, they launched that car too in Malaysia.
O is for Omoda
Not really a brand on its own yet, part of the Chery-Jaecoo family. The presentation I was shown in China put Omoda and Jaecoo next to each other in their own showroom. In Malaysia, Omoda was introduced first as a model of Chery. Now Jaecoo has a C9 by Omoda. They need some time to work out the kinks in the branding, so let’s move on.
O is for Ora
This is GWM’s feline-inspired electric vehicle sub-brand. Kudos to GWM for trying something different in this space. Their Ora are divisive and retro-futuristic looking but some may find the feline and feminine touch a tad too strong.
They’ve currently got the Good Cat and 07 for sale in Malaysia and we’ve driven both. These are sold in GWM showrooms.
P is for Proton
If I say Proton is a Chinese brand I’ll get a lot of hate. I don’t believe they’re a Chinese brand. In fact the most Malaysian cars ever sold are Protons including the current Saga, Iriz and Persona. However it’s clear that the more important Proton models are all Geely-based. The X50, S70, X70, X90, and even the upcoming e.MAS 7 are all Geely-based. This indicates to me that Proton is done making new local designs and will transition to buying more Geely designs and adopting them for Malaysia. Right now the brand’s position within the Geely Group seems hard to understand.
s is for smart
This brand started off as a kind of MINI competitor by Mercedes-Benz. Is it Chinese? Maybe partially, like Proton. However, when we spoke to Pro-Net staff, they seemed to think that smart operated more like a Chinese company than a German one.
Geely was looking for some Mercedes-Benz synergy in the 2010s and they both agreed to work together on smart, which never made enough money in the early years. So with smart you get Mercedes-benz design and tuning and branding, but Geely production, tech, and software. In Malaysia, they have the smart #1 crossover and #3 crossover coupe with high-performance BRABUS variants. All models are electric and based on Geely’s SEA platform.
T is for Tank
This is another sub-brand of GWM. In Malaysia, they have the Tank 300, which is a FJ Cruiser inspired model. At launch this was the most expensive Chinese vehicle on sale in Malaysia. However, it’s clear that there are quite a few interested buyers, so the value must be there for those buyers.
X is for Xpeng
This is another super young company at just about 10 years old. It’s very tech-centric with the founder having more of a tech background than an automotive one. On this list, Xpeng reminds me a little bit of Leapmotor with its emphasis on reimagining of the car except with Apple Carplay support.
In Malaysia, you have the G6 as the first model and it’s interesting because there are two specifications and they’re equipped similarly. So they’re throwing the customer the question as to battery chemistry – LFP or NMC.
Another interesting thing is that Xpeng is represented here by Bermaz, who have a pretty good network and reputation selling Mazda vehicles in Malaysia for more than ten years. They also handle the Kia brand now.
Z is for Zeekr
Zeekr is the final brand on this list and the final brand launch of 2024. This is another Geely-affiliated company. It’s worth mentioning that Geely is one of the few privately owned car companies on this list and is about 40 years old and privately owned. While Geely isn’t that young, Zeekr is and is listed on the New York Stock Exchange. Zeekr started as an offshoot of Lynk & Co, but Lynk & Co’s business model did not take off, so Zeekr got spun off to focus on EVs.
In Malaysia it’s represented by Sentinel Automotive, the guys who do Lotus Cars and they’ve got some help from Sunway Group for dealer locations. They kicked things off with the 009, an electric Alphard competitor and the Zeekr X will come next and it’s also based on Geely’s SEA platform.
