Yes, Tan Chong Is Involved In Perodua's EV. Here's What It's Actually Doing

You might associate Tan Chong Motor with Nissan, but there's another Malaysian car tied to its production operations these days: the Perodua QV-E. And that relationship has now become considerably more concrete.

Tan Chong Motor Holdings Bhd has signed a three-year master agreement with Perodua to support the national carmaker's battery electric vehicle project, formalising a partnership that was first revealed through a letter of intent last year.

According to Tan Chong's Bursa filing, the agreement runs from June 1, 2026 until May 31, 2029, with Perodua holding the option to extend it for another two years.

So, what exactly is Tan Chong responsible for under this deal?

That distinction also matches earlier analyst interpretation of the preliminary arrangement, which noted that its scope did not amount to full contract assembly. The Tan Chong-Perodua connection itself isn't new. 

As Carz reported in November 2025, Tan Chong Motor Assemblies and Perodua Sales first signed a letter of intent covering ED coating, painting and access to designated assembly lines. That agreement was preliminary. What's changed now is that the arrangement has progressed into a formal three-year master agreement.

Yes, and that's what makes the arrangement interesting. When Perodua launched the QV-E in December 2025, it said the EV was being produced at its new Smart Mobility Plant.

Perodua initially had capacity for 500 units per month and targeted 3,000 units monthly by Q3 2026, according to its official QV-E launch announcement.

By June 2026, Perodua said production had already increased to more than 500 units per month, alongside greater localisation of parts. Perodua's latest update is available here.

Late last year, reports suggested Perodua was considering going much further. As Carz reported in December 2025, Perodua was said to be considering acquiring Tan Chong's Rawang-area assembly facility for around RM500 million.

That report also cited an annual capacity-leasing arrangement of around 30,000 units, against estimated plant capacity of roughly 40,000 units annually. However, those figures were reported information, not terms confirmed by today's three-year master agreement.

For Tan Chong, the logic is fairly straightforward. The partnership helps it make greater use of existing manufacturing assets while giving the group a more meaningful role in Malaysia's EV industry. That's particularly relevant given Tan Chong's recent financial performance. The Edge reported that for Q2 2026, Tan Chong's net loss narrowed to RM21.6 million from RM58.1 million a year earlier, while revenue fell 12.42% to RM471.9 million.

Carz has previously looked at the wider question of whether EV-related manufacturing could become an important new source of activity for the group in Could EVs Be Lifeline For Tan Chong Motor?

What's clear now is that the Perodua partnership has moved beyond a preliminary letter of intent into a formal three-year agreement. And Tan Chong's role is quite specific. Rather than simply building the entire Perodua QV-E, its subsidiary is providing production services and infrastructure to support Perodua's EV manufacturing programme.

With the agreement potentially running until 2031 if the extension is exercised, this looks less like a short-term arrangement and more like a meaningful part of Perodua's EV production setup.