MAS 2025: Chery Tiggo 8 PHEV & Omoda E5 Taxis Shown

Tucked deep inside MAEPS’ Hall A at MAS 2025 are two taxi prototypes based on the Chery Tiggo 8 PHEV & Omoda E5 EV.

Besides the barrage of new metals from various brands, the ongoing Malaysia Autoshow 2025 (MAS 2025) also features two peculiar taxi prototypes from Chery. The two units, a Chery Tiggo 8 PHEV and an Omoda E5 EV, are not part of Chery Malaysia’s product display but are tucked deep inside Hall A of MAEPS Serdang, brought in by local taxi service provider Big Blue.

Chery Omoda E5 (left) & Chery Tiggo 8 PHEV (right) taxi mules by Big Blue

In terms of visuals, both the E5 and Tiggo 8 PHEV are dressed in their respective Malaysian taxi liveries, with the EV crossover getting the familiar red-and-white colour scheme commonly used in many taxis locally. Meanwhile, the Tiggo 8 PHEV is dressed in blue, which is typically used in premium taxis. While both the E5 and Tiggo 8 PHEV taxis come standard with digital taxi rooftop signs, they are indeed not ready for service. As the stickers on the cars suggest, these two cars are evaluation taxi mules being trialed for approval by the Ministry of Transport (MoT).

A quick glance inside shows that both cars are equipped with additional taxi-related gizmos like the taximetres, with the ones on the Tiggo 8 PHEV integrated into a rearview mirror attachment, plus a separate receipt printer. Also present inside the Tiggo 8 PHEV are two rear passenger screens mounted on the back side of the front seats, which are not available inside the unit displayed at Chery Malaysia’s booth.

After inquiring about these Chery taxi prototypes to Chery Malaysia’s representatives, no one on the retail side knew that such evaluation was being carried out. This could also suggest that Big Blue might have dealt directly with the corporate side, possibly in a separate commercial arrangement between businesses (B2B).

While this is news, Big Blue is not the only entity planning to use EVs in a large-scale taxi service, as the same effort was previously done by Tenaga Nasional Berhad (TNB) in collaboration with Mysuri Biz Technologies. Through this partnership, both entities pledged to provide 1,000 EV taxis under the TeksiKu banner, comprising both the BYD e6 MPV and MG5 EV wagon. However, no further news was reported about the TeksiKu programme.

Besides taxi services, local e-hailing giant Grab has also partnered with BYD to expand its EV fleet across Southeast Asia, with a total of 50,000 BYD EVs to be used for e-hailing services around the region.

As a refresher, the Tiggo 8 PHEV uses Chery’s own Super Hybrid (CSH) system that grants the three-row SUV more than 1,200 km of combined range, plus an equally impressive EV-only range of 95 km. Meanwhile, the Omoda E5 houses a 61-kWh battery pack that is good for up to 430 km of WLTP range, while its single FWD motor setup is rated at 201 HP and 340 Nm.