Honda e:N1 was launched in Malaysia back in May as Honda’s first EV to be officially released in our market. Somehow, only 8 units were registered with JPJ up till July, but that should change this month.
At least, that is based on what I saw at the Railway Administration Building in Kuala Lumpur last Saturday. The historic 108-year-old building is currently the corporate headquarters of Keretapi Tanah Melayu Berhad (KTMB).
I stumbled upon this sight as I passed by the building while I was on my way to the nearby Perdana Botanical Garden. Naturally, I couldn’t resist making a U-turn to take a closer look, as this was the first time I had seen so many Honda e:N1 at a single location.
Specifically, there were 25 of them during my brief stop at the building. For comparison, only two units were displayed during the Malaysian launch event at MITEC KL in May.
Has Honda finally delivered e:N1 to customers in Malaysia?
As noted earlier, the first batch of Honda e:N1 was supposed to be delivered in Malaysia in mid-June, but judging from the minuscule number of registered units, there may have been some delays for the EV to arrive over here from China.
After all, we were told that almost 200 units have already been booked before the Malaysian launch event, with only “a couple of hundred” units earmarked for our market. Upon seeing these e:N1 at the building, I began to wonder if Honda Malaysia has started to deliver the EV to customers.
But at the same time, the compound of the Railway Administration Building seems like a rather random place for Honda Malaysia to store its vehicles. In addition to that, I also noticed almost all of these e:N1 have the same VPP number plate series on them, except for one unit that has a VPJ prefix on its number plate.
So, I felt slightly baffled until I noticed the “45th ASEAN Railways CEO’s Conference 2025” remark appeared on the small LCD display above the KTMB signboard at the entrance of the building. A quick Google search led me to the conference’s website, and behold: Honda was listed as the official car transport partner of the event.
Only then does it make so much sense to me why there were so many e:N1 at the Railway Administration Building.
Does Honda give enough love to e:N1 in Malaysia?
Since we are already discussing Honda e:N1, I would like to put this on the table: I feel that the e:N1 didn’t receive enough attention from Honda Malaysia.
I noticed there are no posts about e:N1 on Honda Malaysia’s official Facebook and Instagram pages since 15 May – the day the EV was officially launched in Malaysia. The launch event at MITEC KL was quite substantial (by my standards, at least), so it is quite intriguing to see that there is no follow-up after that.
That being said, I’m fully aware that the hybrid is Honda Malaysia’s priority for the time being. If you visit Honda Malaysia’s website and go through its current product line-up, almost all of them have e:HEV hybrid option – except for WR-V, Civic Type-R, and of course, e:N1.
Honda Malaysia has even commissioned a hybrid-themed advertisement specially for Merdeka Day that is based on the viral “Nothing beats a Jet2 holiday” meme.
I can also understand if the e:N1 is not considered a “major” product. As I mentioned before, only several hundred units of e:N1 are meant for Malaysia, and the EV can only be obtained at 8 dealerships, which are all located in Peninsular Malaysia.
Still, I don’t think it requires much effort to “insert” e:N1 into the marketing cycle every now and then? This is so that Malaysians remember that Honda also has a fully-electric model offering over here.
Well, at least cynical netizens can no longer joke that Honda only managed to deliver less than 10 e:N1 in Malaysia. There should be more of the EV in our market right now, and we will know for sure when JPJ releases its August 2025 registration data on the Malaysia Open Data Portal later this week.
Why there are so many Honda e:N1 at this particular spot in Kuala Lumpur?
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