Proton eMas 7 PHEV launched – Malaysia’s cheapest plug-in hybrid, up to 996 km WLTP, RM106k-126k

We’re exhausted, but Proton’s clearly just getting started. This is the national carmaker’s fourth launch in just 14 weeks, after October’s eMas 5, November’s Saga MC3 and January’s X70 MC3. Well, they do want to sell 200,000 cars this year.

So here we go (again) – launched today is the Proton eMas 7 PHEV. It’s the first eMas with an engine and an exhaust pipe, and the third eMas model after the 7 (EV) and the 5. The final prices – RM109,800 for the Prime, RM123,800 for the Premium and RM129,800 for the Premium Plus – are lower than the estimated RM110k-130k, allowing the car to officially snatch away the title of Malaysia’s cheapest plug-in hybrid from the RM130k Chery Tiggo 7 PHEV.

There’s a RM4,000 launch rebate, so the prices become RM105,800 for the Prime, RM119,800 for the Premium and RM125,800 for the Premium Plus. Warranties? Six years with unlimited mileage for the vehicle, eight years/160,000 km for the high-voltage battery and components.

Here are the promo packages – book the eMas 7 PHEV for RM99 and get RM500 off your booking fee if your car is one of the first 5,000 to be successfully registered. The car is eligible for the government’s matching grant to dispose of your old car (RM2,000 each from Proton and the government, RM4,000 total). You also get five years’ free 2GB monthly data worth RM1,000, a free 7 kW home charger worth RM1,500, and complimentary add-ons with the purchase of the eMas Care insurance package worth RM1,000. All these goodies are worth up to RM7,500, says the carmaker.

The Proton eMas 7 PHEV is essentially a Geely EX5/Starray/Galaxy Starship 7 EM-i. Now, Malaysia was the first market outside China to debut the EX5 (eMas 7) and EX2 (eMas 5), but this time, this PHEV is already in a few Oceania and ASEAN markets.

We are, however, in line with other countries in terms of specs, missing out on the Chinese-market 2026 Galaxy Starship 7’s latest powertrain updates. But it’s still a cutting-edge powertrain – the China-imported (CBU) eMas 7 PHEV sees a 99 PS/125 Nm 1.5 litre BHE15-DFN non-turbo engine join forces with a 218 PS/262 Nm front motor to send a combined output of 262 PS and 262 Nm of torque to the front wheels.

The petrol engine is closely related to the Saga MC3’s BHE15-CFN. Still port-injected, but it’s been made simpler and lighter for higher efficiency, runs on an Atkinson cycle full time as opposed to part time, has just single instead of dual VVT, and features efficient exhaust gas recirculation (EGR).

Furthermore, the engine’s lack of an auxiliary belt minimises parasitic losses – no belt-driven air-con compressor and inverter. And like the Saga, it uses a timing chain so there’s no timing belt either. The engine’s thermal efficiency is 46.5% (the latest car in China boasts 47.26%, a higher engine output of 111 PS and 136 Nm of torque and a slightly more powerful motor at 238 PS – but the same 262 Nm of torque).

An 11-to-1 electrified dedicated hybrid transmission (E-DHT) combines a P1 integrated starter-generator and P3 traction motor. The system works similar to Honda’s e:HEV in that the car is driven primarily by electricity but the engine can be clutched in at higher speeds, when petrol power is more efficient. It’s a series-parallel plug-in hybrid and not an EV, so it’ll have engine size-based road tax and wear black number plates.

The engine can charge the battery up to a limit of 85%, and at the other end of the scale, the system protects the battery by not allowing the state of charge to dip below 20%. The battery is an LFP pack – Proton strongly recommends that customers plug in to fully charge the battery once a week to prolong battery health.

There are Prime, Premium and Premium Plus variants. The bottom two get an 18.4 kWh CATL LFP battery, an 83 km EV range, a 943 km combined range, DC charging up to 30 kW (30-80% in under 20 minutes) and an eight-second 0-100 km/h time.

The range-topping Premium Plus gets a 29.8 kWh Geely Aegis short blade LFP battery. Malaysia is unique among global markets in having the larger battery from the 2026 Galaxy Starship 7, and this enables a 146 km EV range, a 996 km combined range, DC charging up to 60 kW (30-80% in under 16 minutes) and an 8.2-second century sprint time.

All ranges quoted above are on the more-realistic WLTP cycle – Proton has, in a departure from usual, chosen to market this model using NEDC figures, clearly to more closely match its rivals. Just for posterity, the combined NEDC ranges are 1,065 km for the Premium Plus and 1,000 km for the Prime and Premium, their corresponding NEDC fuel consumptions are a claimed 4.4 and 4.3 litres per 100 km, and their respective NEDC EV-only ranges are 170 and 105 km.

Moving from WLTP to NEDC is certainly a backwards step, as the former is clearly more realistic and closer to what customers will eventually get in the real world. Proton eMas has long championed the use of WLTP, against most of its NEDC-toting competitors.

Where combined range is concerned, the eMas 7 PHEV loses out against the Chery Tiggo 7 PHEV (1,200 km) and Jaecoo J7 PHEV (1,300 km) mainly because its fuel tank is smaller at 51 litres versus both Chery Group products’ 60 litres. The Proton has the edge in terms of actual fuel efficiency.

At 8.0 to 8.2 seconds, the eMas 7 PHEV is slower than its EV sister (6.9 seconds) to 100 km/h, but quicker than its turbocharged PHEV rivals from Jaecoo and Chery (both around 8.5 seconds). And while we’re comparing against those, the eMas 7 PHEV also has the longest pure EV range, and quicker DC charging too.

A 51-litre pressurised fuel tank, 6.6 kW AC charging, 170 km/h top speed, vehicle-to-load (V2L) and vehicle-to-vehicle (V2V) capabilities are common to all variants.

Exterior-wise, the eMas 7 PHEV differs from the EV in its split headlamps (DRLs above, headlamps below), full-width front LED bar (except Prime), a different front bumper and regular door handles (the EV’s ones are hidden/pop-out/flush/recessed/retractable – whatever you want to call them). The rear number plate’s been moved up from the bumper to the tailgate, allowing a minor rear bumper redesign.

Wondering if those small front intakes can provide enough cooling? Proton says its local R&D team has done 30,000 km of durability testing in various weather conditions, and its international R&D team has done thermal testing in both winter and summer extremes, and discovered no overheating nor other issues.

Same tyre and wheel sizes as the EV (225/55 R18 for the Prime; 235/50 R19 with Goodyear EfficientGrip Performance SUV rubber for the rest), but the PHEV is given a new multi-spoke design. Suspension? Like the EV – MacPhersons up front, multi-links out back. It runs a global set-up; no ‘Proton ride and handling‘. The drag coefficient (Cd) is 0.288, compared to the EV’s 0.275.

Length, width, height and wheelbase are respectively 4,740, 1,940, 1,685 and 2,755 mm, making it 125 mm longer, 39 mm wider and 15 mm taller, and with a 5 mm longer wheelbase, than its EV sister. It’s also slightly larger than both the Chery and Jaecoo.

Interior time. You’ll see that the cabin is pretty much similar to the eMas 7 EV‘s (making CKD easier and cheaper; China’s version has a different cabin) – no matter the variant, you get Flyme OS (with Bahasa Melayu support) powered by a 7nm automotive-grade chip, live charging map integration, a 10.2-inch LCD instrument cluster, a 2.5K 15.4-inch infotainment central touchscreen and leatherette seats.

But unlike the EV, the PHEV gets a tonneau cover (except Prime) and Apple CarPlay/Android Auto from the get-go, plus physical sunroof controls (sunroof only on Premium Plus). To jog your memory, on the EV, you need to go into the screen to operate the sunroof. The button-like front seat backrest inserts have been changed from chrome in the EV to satin silver here to better match the rest of the cabin, but they also lose out on the small Proton logos that the ones on the EV have.

The fuel flap can be unlocked either via the screen or by holding down the left side mirror control button. The drive modes here are Pure (that’s EV-only mode), Hybrid and Power, compared to the EV’s Eco/Comfort/Sport. Pro-Net says interior space is about the same as the EV – there’s 932 mm hip-to-hip between the front and rear seats, 125 mm of rear knee room and 73.5 mm of rear headroom, the last of which the carmaker says is class-leading.

Let’s talk about variants and equipment. Literally the only differences between Premium and Premium Plus are the battery, max DC rate and sunroof.

Both are otherwise equally equipped – powered tailgate, auto-folding side mirrors, auto-dimming frameless rear-view mirror, powered/ventilated front seats, fully-reclinable front passenger seat, rear centre armrest, 256-colour ambient lighting, tonneau cover, 13.8-inch head-up display, wireless charging, 16 Flyme Sound Wanos speakers including in the headrests, auto air-con, seven airbags including a centre airbag (which the Geely Galaxy E5 in China gets and our eMas 7 EV doesn’t), a 360 camera and front parking sensors.

All the stuff mentioned in the preceding paragraph, the Prime doesn’t get, settling instead for six speakers, six airbags and a reverse camera. It also has the smaller of the two wheels offered and no full-width front LED bar (we’ve yet to clap eyes on this base variant, so what it actually looks like is still a mystery, as is the brand of tyres used – Giti like the eMas 7 Prime EV?).

In terms of active safety, while all variants get AEB, ACC, ICC, lane functions, leading vehicle departure alert and traffic sign recognition, the Prime omits emergency lane keep assist, rear collision warning, rear cross traffic alert and braking, lane change safety warning, blind spot detection, door open warning and occupant detection alert.

Pro-Net has been wildly inconsistent with its base variants – you see, the eMas 7 Prime EV has full ADAS while the eMas 5 Prime has no ADAS (although it does have blind spot detection and RCTA). Now, the eMas 7 PHEV Prime has ADAS but no blind spot detection.

The boot can take 528 litres; fold down the back seats for 2,065. This is quite a lot more than the EV’s 461 and 1,877 litres. The PHEV’s 100-litre hidden underfloor storage is also 49 litres up on the EV, although it loses the EV’s under-seat drawer because that’s where the fuel tank is now.

You can have your eMas 7 PHEV in Obsidian Black, Lithium White, Mercury Silver, Galena Grey or Aquamarine Blue, while the interior can be had in either Alabaster White or Onyx Black (black is new – the eMas 7 EV’s interior is either Alabaster White or Indigo Blue).

The service interval is 12 months/20,000 km and according to Pro-Net, the car is 41% cheaper to run over 10 years than a “same-segment ICE SUV” (X70, we guess) at RM29,200 versus RM49,800, including fuel, charging and maintenance. Estimated costs, of course. So what do you think of the Proton eMas 7 PHEV?

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