Geely EX2 exported from Tg Malim – Proton eMas 5 local content now high enough for ASEAN exports?

Our BM colleague and Tanjong Malim resident Farid Awaludin strikes again, this time with photos of several units of the Proton eMas 5 leaving the national carmaker’s factory. Except that these cars were no ordinary eMas 5s, as they were carrying Geely EX2 badging.

At this point you’re probably wondering what the big deal of this is – after all, Proton exports plenty of Geely-badged vehicles nowadays, and they’re actually very proud of it. However, the company’s current exports, such as the S70 (Emgrand), X50 (Coolray) and X90 (Okavango), are built at its longstanding factory with body stamping and painting facilities.

The eMas 5, meanwhile, is assembled in a newer dedicated EV plant that, last we checked, did not have these facilities. Even though its electric motor is now put together in Tanjong Malim, its total local content is still likely below the 40% threshold required for preferential ASEAN tariffs, meaning that it would be taxed like a foreign vehicle.

So, the sight of these EX2s could mean one of two things – either Proton has added a paint shop to its EV plant that would raise the local content to meet the said threshold for exports to ASEAN (we can already rule out Indonesia, as the EX2 is CKD locally assembled there), or the cars are headed to markets where that quotient isn’t quite so important. Which then begs the question – why doesn’t Geely just import their cars directly from China?

Beyond the different badging, the EX2s are seemingly identical to the eMas 5 Premium – that is to say, they don’t come with the latest model‘s new wheels, rear wiper and, presumably, the larger 47.14 kWh battery that delivers 20 km more range at 345 km on the WLTP cycle. That means we can rule out markets like Europe and Australia, both of which will get the updates.

We should point out that while Proton building EX2s is new, this isn’t the first time it’s exported the eMas 5. That car is currently being sold with Proton badging in Singapore and Nepal, but it is still fully-imported from China, just via Malaysia.

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