A number of Tesla customers claimed that Tesla Malaysia contacted them via phone and/or email and requested that they make the downpayment on their purchase, according to a report by SoyaCincau.
While the firm did not officially state it in its exchanges, it appeared that Tesla was preparing to deliver EVs to Malaysian customers very soon.
When the Tesla Model 3 Highland was first unveiled to the public on September 1, it was immediately available for booking on Tesla Malaysia’s website. Furthermore, the site stated that the first deliveries are expected in late 2023, which is far earlier than the Model Y, which would only be available in Malaysia next year.
Having said that, there were a few aspects of the email provided to customers by Tesla Malaysia that raised some red flags. For starters, Citibank was named as the bank for the down payment transaction, which is not out of the norm until you remember that UOB just purchased Citibank’s consumer banking operations in Malaysia.
By that reasoning, the listed bank account ought to actually be a UOB account.
However, given that Citi Commercial Bank is still active in Malaysia and was not acquired by UOB, it is unlikely that Tesla Malaysia’s Citibank account is a commercial banking account.
The RM15,000 downpayment that was mentioned in the email, however, is much less than the minimum 10 percent downpayment that a Malaysian automobile buyer is supposed to make as per the legislation.
Indeed, the lowest downpayment for a Tesla Model 3 Highland is RM18,900, which equates to the vehicle’s beginning price of RM189,000.
The email further stated that clients must pay by September 20 and give their receipt to the designated Tesla Malaysia advisor. In addition to the short amount of time that clients have to pay, the email also stated that the initial RM15,000 payment is non-refundable.
SoyaCincau has reached out to Tesla Malaysia for further clarifications and is currently waiting for their response.