Top 20 EV brands in Jan 2026 – Proton on top, 3x more than BYD in second; Zeekr 3rd, iCaur 4th, Tesla 5th

Proton is off to a great start when it comes to electric vehicle (EV) sales in 2026 with a total of 3,276 registrations recorded by the road transport department (JPJ) in January. This is more than enough for it to become the best-selling EV brand in Malaysia in the first month of this year despite selling just the eMas 7 and eMas 5.

Behind Proton by 2,363 units is BYD, which managed 913 registrations to take second place. Rounding off the podium is Zeekr in third with 489 units, while iCaur followed closely in fourth with 451 units.

Outside the top four, no other brand managed to break past the 400-unit mark. This includes Tesla that managed 176 units to take fifth place and a slender lead over Leapmotor in sixth with 171 units as well as MG in seventh with 169 units.

Brands that didn’t crack triple-digit registrations start with Xpeng in eighth with 97 units, followed by Mercedes-Benz in ninth (83 units), Denza in tenth (55 units), Great Wall Motor in 11th (51 units), Dongfeng in 12th (43 units), BMW in 13th (40 units) and smart in 14th (38 units).

TQ Wuling makes its appearance in the top 20 list following the launch of the Bingo in December 2025, with the locally-assembled (CKD) EV seeing 35 registrations to place the brand in 15th with 35 units.

In the bottom five of the top 20 list, Porsche is in 16th with 32 units (amount likely includes recon cars), followed by Volvo in 17th (28 units), Neta in 18th (24 units), MINI in 19th (23 units) and finally, Lexus in 20th (19 units).

There are still 11 months to go in 2026 and things can change as brands introduce new models or commence CKD operations for price competitiveness. As it stands now, Proton is on top by a considerable margin.

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