Proton CEO: 21 China brands and 58 models now in Malaysia, but only five “real CKD,” and all low volume

Keeping an eye on the competition is all part of business, and Proton is very much aware that the local market has seen an influx of Chinese players – the company gave us its own China brand-focused market overview at the start of 2025.

At a recent media event where Proton talked about its past, present and future, CEO Li Chunrong said a total of 21 new and returning Chinese brands have been launched in Malaysia over the years. Collectively, these brands have introduced 58 models, with 64% being electric vehicles (EVs) while the remaining 36% are vehicles with some form of internal combustion engine (ICE).

While some of these models compete directly with some of Proton’s offerings, the majority of them are not completely knocked down (CKD) models here. Li pointed out that only five out of the 58 models it listed are “real CKD” products.

These “real CKD” models include the Chery Tiggo Cross, Jaecoo J8 as well as GAC’s GS3 Emzoom, M8 PHEV and Emkoo. Cars from Chery (Omoda 5, Omoda E5, Tiggo 8 Pro and Tiggo 7 Pro), Omoda | Jaecoo (J7 and C9) and Great Wall Motor (Haval H6) may roll off factory lines here in Malaysia, but they are deemed by Proton as semi-knocked down (SKD) models.

In the case of CKD assembly, the entire car comes in a completely disassembled form before being put together here. On the other hand, SKD involves putting together partially assembled parts to create the final product.

Another point that Li highlighted is low volume, as the 10 best-selling models in the list of 58 models averaged under 1,000 units a month. Some of the top performers identified by Proton include the Jaecoo J7, Omoda C9, Chery Tiggo 7 Pro and BYD Sealion 7.

It has to be noted, however, that Proton itself runs an SKD local assembly operation with its eMas 7 (production has just started, after a year of CBU sales), while the smaller eMas 5 is still fully imported from China. The latter is sold under a CKD bridging programme to sidestep the previous floor pricing of RM100k for CBU EVs, which has now been upped to RM250k.

However, we assume Proton has plans to move its eMas models to proper CKD operations in Tanjong Malim sooner rather than later. For comparison, Geely has started full CKD assembly of the EX2 (eMas 5 twin) in Indonesia with no less than 46.5% local content, including locally-assembled battery packs.