Toyota starts EV offensive in Malaysia from next month

2026 looks like the year Toyota starts to go on a product offensive after a couple of years of being quiet as the Chinese brands stormed into the Malaysian market with new EVs. While Toyota has a wide range of models, adding them to the local range is not something that can be done within a few months. Production at the factories in Thailand or Japan are planned months and even years in advance so new additional requests for allocation are not easy to slot in. Besides that, testing has to be done to ensure they are compatible with local conditions.

So it has taken a while to get the new products needed to challenge the newcomers and in that time, Toyota has also launched new fully electric models so Malaysia’s requirements have been included in production plans.

We’ll see the first of these in the first week of April as UMW Toyota Motor has notified the media of a launch of not just one but three brand new EV models. And they have even told us what the models are: the bZ4X, Hilux BEV and Urban Cruiser BEV. These will immediately expand Toyota’s electrified range to 9 models as they join the hybrid electric Vellfire, Harrier and Camry, and locally-assembled Corolla Cross and Vios.