Perodua EV final prototype walk-around video tour – sharp crossover body, many P2 firsts, Q4 2025 launch

The Malaysia Autoshow (MAS) 2025 opens to the public from today till May 15, and if you followed our live coverage yesterday, you’d know what to expect at MAEPS Serdang. Basically, it’s dominated by Chinese brands with a sprinkling of premium marques and national makes. Proton’s Geely-based SUVs blend in well in the Chery-dominated main hall. It was like a mini Auto Shanghai.

But something unfinished in a small dark area stole the show. It’s the third and final episode of Perodua’s first EV journey at motor shows as the car will be launched in Q4 this year. It wasn’t that long ago (late last year at KLIMS) that the eMO-II wowed us all with its sharp and sporty ‘hot hatch’ body, so we’re surprised ourselves at the amount of things to see and say about this showcar.

That’s because the eMO-II has morphed into a crossover of sorts – we’re not talking about a traditional SUV but a taller bodied car with a sloping roofiline and some coupe flavour. Think Toyota C-HR. In fact, the latest eMO a.k.a. Aspirations kind of resembles the C-HR+ EV that surfaced in March.

The final prototype on display at MAS 2025 is finished in a super dark Vantablack-style skin, but visible cues include flush front door handles and rear handles ‘hidden’ next to the windows, like the C-HR and Honda HR-V. There are full-width LED bars at both ends, of course. Those are 18-inch wheels, the biggest ever to appear on a Perodua. The wheelarch gap seems a little exaggerated on the showcar, but you get the idea.

No dimensions yet, but to our eyes the eMO is bigger than the Myvi and will easily dwarf over the upcoming Proton eMas 5 and TQ Wuling Bingo, EVs that will play in the sub-RM100k bracket that Perodua is targeting (the Bingo is CKD, which allows RRPs below RM100k, and Proton will eventually assemble the eMas 5 in Tg Malim). This is ‘very very close’ to the production car, Perodua president and CEO Datuk Seri Zainal Abidin Ahmad said.

Also very close to reality is the EV’s interior, unlike the fantasy dashboard of eMO-II. The showcar here is in cutaway form to reveal the EV’s mechanicals and interior. The latter includes a full near-production dashboard with a high centre console dividing the front seats, soft touch dash surface, digital instrument panel and a rotary gear selector.

There’s a 360-degree camera, but what’s surprising is a digital rear view mirror, as seen in some high-end Toyotas. More good news in the form of Apple CarPlay and Android Auto, and physical air con switches (single-zone auto), which we much prefer over in-system touchscreen controls. By the way, there’s a separate dark room where you can sit in the interior, but we were barred from taking pictures of that display. You can try it out at MAEPS.

Specs wise, we know that the EV battery is a lithium iron phosphate (LFP) unit from CATL, with a target real-world range of between 400 to 410 km. The performance target is a 0-100 km/h time of between six and seven seconds and top speed would be around 165 km/h. If achieved, all these figures should better those of the eMas 5 and Bingo.

Being an EV, there are many Perodua firsts in the car, but what’s really interesting about Rawang’s first non-ICE product is that they thought of the EV things carbuyers worry about, and have devised solutions to counter them.

Battery health, and replacement costs, is something that the general public fear. To nullify this, Perodua takes ownership of the batteries. The EV will launch with what P2 calls Battery-as-a-Service (BaaS), the first EV battery leasing scheme in Malaysia. This lowers the cost of the car and ensures that owners will always have a battery in the best condition. Swapping batteries is something that can be done in just 30 minutes, P2 says.

Another major concern that the general public has about EVs – and P2 prospects surely aren’t the type that ‘can afford’ or are willing to lose a big chunk of the car’s purchase price – is resale value. It’s plain to see that depreciation for EVs are way beyond the level we’ve seen with ICE cars – the risk of a degraded battery that will be very costly to replace (and fewer years of warranty left) is factored in the poor RV. Battery leasing erases this issue.

There will also be the option of purchasing the car with the battery outright. Opt out of BaaS and you’ll get a standard warranty of eight years, Zainal says.

Speaking of resale values, the P2 chief said that Rawang is looking at a ‘guaranteed future value’ scheme where the EV’s RV is protected. With GFV in black and white, you don’t have to worry about the carmaker dropping prices drastically or engaging in a price war, although that’s unlikely with market leader Perodua.

Pre-production will start in September and Perodua is on track to fulfil its promise to launch this self-developed EV (Daihatsu has no suitable donor car, this platform is P2’s own IP) before the year ends. Join us on a walk-around tour of Perodua’s final prototype of the its first EV and tell us what you think.

If you need some context, here’s a walk-around video of the upcoming Proton eMas 5. The MAS 2025 showcar has a camouflaged exterior and no access to its cabin, but apart from badging, the LHD example should be identical to the Geely Star Wish we detailed in March in Bangkok.

GALLERY: Perodua eMO final prototype at MAS 2025

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