Last year, there was a lot of chatter in the automotive community that electric vehicles (EV) by Tesla might finally be available for public purchase in Malaysia. However, based on reports by paultan.org, the plans seem to have changed.
In February during his visit to the Tesla headquarters in Palo Alto, PM Najib announced that the government has green lighted the importation of 110 units of the Tesla Model S, duty free. The catch is that these vehicles may only be made available for a two-year lease to government linked companies (GLCs) through Green Tech Malaysia.
According to government officials, this possible restriction was proposed by the US carmaker, and they also mentioned that the details will be ironed out with Tesla.
Still, all seems to have gone quiet since then. There has yet to be an update about when exactly the EVs will be imported nor if the cars will be made available to for the general public to purchase any time soon.
According to paultan.org, the Teslas that have been spotted on Malaysian roads were private imports and are not endorsed by Tesla Motors. So when the Model S is eventually released here, even if it’s just to be used as official vehicles for government linked companies, Malaysia will be the first country to officially debut the Model S in the region.
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