Zeekr vehicles will soon be locally assembled (CKD) in Tanjong Malim, as confirmed in the press materials for the launch of Proton’s new EV factory in the Automotive High-Tech Valley (AHTV).
“Proton’s partnership with Zhejiang Geely Holding Ltd (Geely) would also see other premium brands, such as Zeekr, being locally assembled within AHTV,” the press release read. The brief announcement, however, did not reveal if Zeekr will set up its own assembly plant or utilise Proton’s existing facility at the location, nor did it provide any timeline for the project.
Zeekr is the premium EV sub-brand of Geely, who is of course Proton’s foreign partner that holds a 49.9% stake in the national carmaker. Furthermore, AHTV itself is also a joint venture between DRB-Hicom and Geely – a massive project that will take approximately 10 years to fully develop and is set to become one of the largest automotive manufacturing hubs in Southeast Asia.
The EV brand’s announcement follows that of BYD, making it the second major Chinese carmaker to announce a presence in Tanjong Malim – the latter will be establishing its own factory in the manufacturing hub, with operations set to begin in 2026.
Separately, Chery has also announced plans to set up shop nearby in the Beringin High-Tech Industrial Park, which is also set to be operational in 2026.
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Previously, Geely Auto Group Chairman, Li Shufu, stated that the company would be injecting RM32 billion worth of investment into Malaysia over the next 10 years, intending to transform Malaysia into its right-hand drive (RHD) export hub. Additionally, Geely Holding Group Senior Vice President and Geely International Holdings (Malaysia) CEO, Wei Mei, stated that once AHTV is fully up and running, it will have an annual production capacity of 500,000 cars, of which half will be exported internationally.
Proton’s all-new EV plant itself will have an initial annual capacity of 20,000 units during its first phase of operations, with a planned second phase that can expand this to 45,000 units.
With the tax incentives for fully-imported (CBU) EVs set to end by the close of 2025, the prospect of local assembly by brands like Zeekr and BYD becomes even more significant for consumers. This could mean that we will see more affordable cars from these brands once their local facilities are operational in 2026 and beyond.
Zeekr currently sells three models in Malaysia: the Zeekr X, the Zeekr 009, and the Zeekr 7X, the latter of which was only recently launched in Malaysia. The Zeekr 7X is available in three variants and is priced from RM179,800 to RM226,800.
ALSO READ: All-new Zeekr 7X launched in Malaysia – 3 variants, up to 610 km range, from RM180k
