Chery Taps Malaysia for Right-Hand-Drive Production

Chinese auto maker Chery plans to build an assembly plant in Malaysia and make the facility its main hub for producing right-hand-drive vehicles.

Chery Automobile Malaysia will spend RMB250 million ($70 million) on the project over the next five years.

The government news agency Bernama quotes Chery Malaysia CEO Paul Ng as saying a location for the plant has been found in central Malaysia and the company is awaiting government approval.

“(We) expect the first phase of the plant to be ready by 2015,” Ng tells reporters after launching a Chery showroom in Petaling Jaya, Malaysia. “The plant will serve as our export hub to countries like Thailand, Indonesia, India, Sri Lanka and Pakistan.”

The Business Times reports Ng as saying the majority of Chery’s 80 models are small left-hand-drive vehicles. “We believe Malaysia is the most conducive place in Southeast Asia to assemble right-hand vehicles,” he says.

The plant will have initial capacity to produce 10,000 cars a year and can double that volume as sales improve, he says.

Chery Malaysia plans to introduce six new models next year, including a hatchback, SUV and two commercial vehicles. Ng says they will be complete-knocked-down units assembled in Malaysia.

The auto maker has a sales target of 3,000 units this year, unchanged from 2011. “We don't have (enough) models on the road to raise our sales target,” Ng says.