Malaysia auto player Naza said yesterday it planned to tie up with US giant General Motors (GM) to assemble Chevrolet cars in Malaysia, and could export the vehicles to other Southeast Asian markets.
“I am optimistic we will be able to set up an assembly plant. GM is keen. We want the investment to come to Malaysia,” said Faisal Nasimuddin, the Naza group’s chief executive officer.
“The assembly of Chevrolet vehicles could be at the Naza Group assembly plant in Gurun, Kedah,” he told reporters, referring to the northern state on the Thai border.
In March Naza signed a distributorship agreement with GM. All the models it distributes — Optra, Aveo, Captiva and Cruze — are currently imported from Thailand.
Faisal said Naza hopes to boost Chevrolet sales to between 35,000 and 40,000 cars by 2015 before establishing an assembly facility in Malaysia, Southeast Asia’s biggest passenger car market.
“GM sees Malaysia as a very strategic market,” he said, adding that the US auto player wants to turn Malaysia “into a regional hub” for the export of certain models.
“We have to set up a facility. We are exploring how we can become an ASEAN hub [for GM],” Faisal said. He did not give a timeline for establishing the assembly operations.
Faisal also said Malaysia should provide tax incentives to woo foreign auto players in a bid to become a Southeast Asian hub, a status already claimed by Thailand.
He said the Malaysian passenger car market was becoming saturated, and that for growth prospects, industry players had to look toward the region.
Ahmad Maghfur Usman, an analyst with OSK Research, said it would cost about 20 million ringgit (US$6.3 million) to set up an assembly line for a single model.
“I think the target of 40,000 units is a bit ambitious. Malaysian buyers still prefer Japanese makes due to their fuel efficiency, quality and better resale value,” he said.