Deepal S05 exported from Thailand to Europe – with EV tax holiday over, will Malaysia’s car still be CBU?

To jog your memory, Changan in May launched a plant in Rayong, Thailand – its first outside China. Now, Car News China reports that the plant’s first 500 vehicles are being exported to Europe, including the Deepal S05 SUV. Deepal is one of Changan’s sub-brands.

Featuring a body shop, paint shop, final assembly shop as well as a powertrain workshop (including battery assembly), the 1.9 billion yuan (RM581 million) facility will initially have a production capacity of 100,000 units annually, with plans to increase the figure to 200,000 units by 2027.

Construction of the facility – which will assemble Changan, Deepal and Avatr vehicles for Southeast Asian markets, Australia and New Zealand – began in November 2023 and took 556 days to complete. The first vehicle off the line – a Deepal S05 – was also Changan’s 28.59 millionth. Like the Forthing Friday, Xpeng X9 and Xpeng P7+, the S05 is available in EV and range-extended (REEV) versions.

Now, Deepal hasn’t launched in Malaysia yet, but in November 2024 when Bermaz was announced as distributor, it was communicated that the S05 and S07 would be fully imported (CBU) from Thailand. At that time, CBU EVs would go on to enjoy another 13 months of freedom from import and excise duties.

A lot has changed since, as you know. It’s now 2026, which means CBU EVs (having been tax-free since Budget 2022) are again subject to import and excise duties, which could make them uncompetitive against locally-assembled (CKD) EVs.

Then there’s the news that appeared only a few days ago – beginning January 1, 2026, all new CBU EVs from new brands which have not been previously approved under any franchise AP company must be priced RM250k and up (the RM100k floor remains for existing brands/models), and their motor(s) power must be at least 200 kW (272 PS). We hope Bermaz managed to get Deepal approved in time. Learn more about the S05 here – the EV version has less than 272 PS.

Deepal S05 at the Bangkok International Motor Show 2025

Deepal S05 official images

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