Malaysia’s EV market had its biggest month ever in August 2026, with 8,833 battery-electric cars registered, and more than half of them wore the same badge. The Proton e.MAS 5 alone accounted for 4,770 of those registrations, or 54% of every EV sold in the country, the first time one model has taken more than half of a month’s EV registrations since the market grew past 1,000 a month.
Strip the e.MAS 5 out and the rest of the EV market did not grow at all in August, it shrank, from 4,535 registrations in July to 4,063, a fall of 10%. The record EV month was really a one-car story.
Within the EV chart the gulf to the rest of the field is stark. The Tesla Model 3 was the month’s runner-up on 659 units, meaning the e.MAS 5 outsold it more than seven to one, and it sold more than the other nine cars in the top 10 put together. Proton’s own e.MAS 7 was third on 613 and the Tesla Model Y fourth on 507, with nothing else above 310.
e.MAS 5’s sales opened 2026 with 3,068 registrations in January, good for fifth place in the overall sales chart, then slid into a mid-year lull that bottomed out at 883 units and 17th place in May. It has climbed every month since, to 2,402 in July and now 4,770, a record for the model. That takes it back to fifth overall, matching its January high, behind only the Perodua Bezza, Perodua Axia, Proton Saga and Perodua Myvi, four petrol staples that have defined the Malaysian market for years. No other EV has finished in the top five.
The knock-on effects run through Proton’s numbers too. The e.MAS 5 made up 89% of the 5,383 EVs Proton registered in August, itself the highest monthly EV total any brand has ever posted in Malaysia, and the model now has 17,837 registrations for the year.
Whether August’s surge reflects a step change in demand or a bunching of deliveries, the next couple of months will tell. Either way, the shape of Malaysia’s EV market right now is one very big car, then everyone else.
Want to dig deeper? Our car sales data tool lets you explore and analyse Malaysian new-vehicle registrations in detail, from monthly and yearly trends for every make and model to rankings by brand, body type and fuel, plus dedicated views for the EV market and the national carmakers, all built on the same JPJ data behind this story and updated every month.
The post Proton eMas 5 outsells every other EV in Malaysia combined in August – one model, 54% of the market! appeared first on Paul Tan’s Automotive News.
