From the top 20 best-selling cars in Malaysia in 2024, we are now narrowing things down to just the electric vehicles. According to vehicle registration data from the road transport department (JPJ), it was a close fight at the peak between BYD and Tesla.
Only four EVs managed to cross the 2,000-unit mark, and the leader of the pack in 2024 was the BYD Atto 3 with 2,969 units, followed very closely by its larger sibling – the Seal – with 2,958 units. The latter was placed higher than its close rival, the Tesla Model 3, which managed to secure third place with 2,824 units.
Coming in behind the Model 3 is the Model Y in fourth place with 2,300 units, while another BYD, the Dolphin, occupied the fifth spot with 1,431 units. BYD’s Sealion 7, which directly takes on the Model Y, only managed sixth but was limited by time.
The Sealion 7 was launched late in November 2024 and only managed 641 units by the end of the year with two months of sales. Looking at the data, registrations jumped from 128 units in the month the EV went on sale to 513 units in December. It’ll be interesting to see its performance with a full year of sales ahead, especially with the Model Y expected to get its Juniper facelift in 2025.
Next comes GWM’s Ora (615 units) in seventh place, with JPJ combining registrations of both the Good Cat and 07 under the same ‘Ora’ model for some reason. The same is also true of the smart #1 and #3, both curiously listed as a ‘Brabus’ model for a total of 602 units to take the eighth spot.
Rounding up the top 10 is the BYD M6 in ninth with a strong push after its October launch to bag 566 registrations, placing it just ahead of the Chery Omoda 5 with 553 units. The MG4 launched in March 2024 managed to cross the 500-unit mark to secure the 11th spot with 519 units.
Below this threshold, we find the first of five BMW models in the top 20 list, the i5 with 478 units for 12th place. It is joined by the iX2 in 13th with 477 units despite going on sale in Malaysia from May last year.
There’s a bit of a gap between the iX2 to the next BMW EV on the list, with the Xpeng G6 taking the 14th spot with 396 units registered following its August launch. The Porsche Taycan came in 15th with 356 units, although this figure will likely include grey imports and reconditioned cars that aren’t filtered out by JPJ.
Another latecomer but impressive performer is the MINI Countryman SE that only saw registrations start from July onwards after its May introduction to end up with 348 units for 16th place. From this point onwards, we find more BMWs in the form of the iX1 that gained an entry-level variant in April and saw 285 registrations in 2024. The iX1 is followed by the i4 (240 units) and i7 (233 units), while at the end of the top 20 list is the Neta V that is three units behind the i7.
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