With Bermaz Auto having secured distributorship for the Xpeng brand of vehicles in Malaysia, the brand will be launching the G6 in Malaysia, reported The Edge Malaysia.

A check online reveals a Malaysian Xpeng website with the copyright script “2024 Bermaz Xpeng Sdn Bhd” at the bottom of the page. On the website, as well as on the brand’s Facebook and Instagram profiles, it has its logo accompanied by the text, “A new dawn in electric refinement”, pointing to an unveiling soon.

In Thailand, the Xpeng G6 was announced to go to market in March in two variants – the Standard Range, priced from 1.5 million baht (RM200k), and the Long Range, priced from 1.7 million baht (RM230k) at the time. The Tesla Model Y at the time was priced from 1,749,000 baht (RM229,700), to 2,049,000 baht (RM269,200) for the Long Range AWD version.

In Malaysia, the Tesla Model Y is priced from RM191,000 for the RWD; from RM238,000 for the Long Range AWD and from RM280,000 for the Model Y Performance, as of April 2024 when a reduction of RM8,000 across the range was announced.

While companies will typically fight for market share from the outset, Bermaz Auto is not planning to import large volumes of the Xpeng G6 to Malaysia initially, as it believes that the ecosystem for electric vehicles in Malaysia, in terms of the charging network and technical expertise, is still not sufficient to attract mainstream adoption of EVs, Bermaz group CEO Datuk Francis Lee Kok Chuan was quoted by The Edge Malaysia as saying.

Lee said that Bermaz Auto is about building the equity value of the brands it represents, so that the market has confidence in buying cars from its brands, rather than waiting for discounts. That said, the company’s group CEO admits the company needs to be in the EV segment regardless, while Xpeng has agreed to take a slow-and-steady approach to market penetration.

“Some of the Chinese principals are bringing the ‘EV war’ to the Malaysian market. You know, we cannot jump on the bandwagon. I mean, [if] we buy this car, and if the take-up is low, then what are you going to do? You have to offer discounts! That is not what Bermaz is all about,” Lee said.

Both the Standard Range and Long Range variants of the Xpeng G6 in Thailand are equipped with a rear-axle motor that outputs 296 PS and 440 Nm of torque, propelling the EV crossover from 0-100 km/h in 6.6 seconds.

Interestingly, the Long Range variant is quoted with a 0-100 km/h time of 5.9 seconds, or 0.7 second quicker than the Standard Range variant. In other markets, there is also a dual-motor, all-wheel-drive version that makes 487 PS and 660 Nm.

Differentiating the Standard Range and Long Range variants are their batteries, the former specified with a 66 kWh lithium iron phosphate (LFP) battery that offers a claimed 580 km of range, while the latter gets a 87.5 kWh nickel cobalt manganese (NCM) unit offering 755 km of range.

GALLERY: Xpeng G6

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