Very few cars have created such a stir in the already-pretty-saturated Malaysian playground like the Perodua QV-E. From its much-maligned battery leasing scheme to its indigenous development, production delays due to quality issues, its lacklustre sales and finally its June 15 relaunch with slashed prices and the option to own the whole thing, the little EV has given us plenty to talk about over our nightly cups of kopi tarik.
The QV-E started out asking for RM80k without the battery, which was leased to owners for RM275 (RM297 with tax) a month for a nine-year period. You couldn’t own the whole thing even if you wanted to, which was met with considerable derision in the market.
Perodua pivoted relatively quickly. The QV-E now asks for RM63,499 + RM215 (tax included) a month for nine years, and now offers the option to own the whole thing for RM87,499. These prices include a RM6,500 rebate that expires end-September.
Our homegrown hero is sandwiched between the RM57k-70k Proton eMas 5 and the RM97k-119k Proton eMas 7 EV, and the idiom ‘stuck between a rock and a hard place’ was probably invented to describe this situation, if time and economies of scale didn’t work the way they do. By the way, if you’re cross-shopping between the QV-E and the eMas 5, you simply must read our head-to-head analysis.
The front-wheel-driven QV-E has a 204 PS/285 Nm motor, a 52.5-kWh (gross) CATL LFP battery, a 370 km WLTP range, a 7.5-second 0-100 km/h time and a 165 km/h top speed. Charge it at 60 kW DC and you’ll get from 30-80% in 30 minutes; 6.6 kW AC gets you from empty to full in eight hours. In short, the QV-E is more powerful, faster and has longer legs than any eMas 5, but it charges slightly slower.
It’s a reversal of roles of sorts. You see, Perodua is known for repackaging proven Japanese technology, leveraging scale, and interior space and practicality, while Proton for a long time had a range of indigenously-developed cars that drove brilliantly but did not sell in high numbers. I will say no more – watch Hafriz’s brief video review above. Take it as an appetiser to an hour-long English-language full video review we’ll serve you next week.