Mazda to invest RM100 mil in its CKD programme

mazda cx-5

Mazda’s local assembly programme is building up steam, with capital investment set to get a massive boost – according to Bernama, the automaker will be pumping in RM100 million into its assembly plant operation in Kedah. This is a significant hike from the RM40 million initially reported for the programme last year.

The facility, which operates in the Inokom plant area in Kulim, begins local production of the Mazda CX-5 next month. The SUV is the second Mazda to be locally assembled in Kulim, after the Mazda 3 sedan and hatchback, which began local production in January 2011. Last month, the CKD pricing for the CX-5 was released.

In September last year, Bermaz Motor – the distributor of Mazda vehicles in Malaysia since 2008 – inked a joint venture agreement with Mazda Motor Corporation for a manufacturing programme in Malaysia.

Mazda’s entry saw the establishment of Mazda Malaysia, responsible for both manufacturing and increasing localisation activities to support Bermaz Motor’s sales and marketing efforts. Mazda Motor Corp has a 70% share in the JV, with the rest held by its local partner.

It was reported last year that the new JV project will see 3,000 units of the CX-5 being assembled yearly. Meanwhile, the Bernama report adds that two new Mazda CKD models are set to be introduced in 2014, and also that the Japanese carmaker plans to use 50% local components in its CKD vehicle programme within a year, in line with its localisation efforts to bring costs down.

Mazda’s Structural Reform Plan has set a sales target of 150,000 units for the ASEAN region, and Malaysia is considered one of the Japanese carmaker’s key markets, alongside Thailand and Indonesia.

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Anthony Lim

Anthony Lim believes that nothing is better than a good smoke and a car with character, with good handling aspects being top of the prize heap. Having spent more than a decade and a half with an English tabloid daily never being able to grasp the meaning of brevity or being succinct, he wags his tail furiously at the idea of waffling - in greater detail - about cars and all their intrinsic peculiarities here.

 

Comments

  • Sam Loo on Mar 11, 2013 at 9:27 am

    Hidden due to lowcomment rating. Click here to see.

    Poorly-rated. Like or Dislike: Thumb up 45 Thumb down 219
    • What a silly comment you have here and it just show how narrow minded you are. Yes, no doubt CBU Japan will have slight edge over the CKD. About your nasi lemak and your minum thing, you think they are working in their father’s factory? There are of course rules and regulation and most importantly supervision from the Japanese management. By the way, your Toyota are mostly locally assembled too.

      Well-loved. Like or Dislike: Thumb up 56 Thumb down 3
      • Jimmy on Mar 11, 2013 at 1:41 pm

        Is he talking about certain departments of ‘rock-solid’ salary, where some of them actually put a 5 in female and an 8 in male, and their kawans?
        BTW, CX-5 is better than CRV.

        Like or Dislike: Thumb up 4 Thumb down 0
      • Sam Loo on Mar 12, 2013 at 9:24 am

        I work in Malaysian CKD plant before, all they talk is kongkek, kongkek and kongkek. Hardly do any work in the plant. Concentration is not at work at hand. So, when they pateri or solder, they are looking at the awek at the QC assembly while soldering the door, so, you think they solder the same as CBU?

        Like or Dislike: Thumb up 9 Thumb down 6
    • BrianXYZ on Mar 11, 2013 at 12:49 pm

      @Sam Loo, so what is the quality difference??? Even if the Malaysian worker went to minum teh & see awek, he still come back and assemble the door rite? Quality is still the same, the door gets assembled…

      Like or Dislike: Thumb up 10 Thumb down 8
      • Jimmy on Mar 11, 2013 at 1:49 pm

        BTW, do you like to live in a beautiful condo in Damansara areas, or a solid 4-storey walk-up flat with good resale value elsewhere?

        Like or Dislike: Thumb up 3 Thumb down 3
        • BrianXYZ on Mar 12, 2013 at 10:08 am

          Beautiful condos not just found in Damansara. It can be found anywhere in KL if you seek. That’s the problem with the mentality, if not Damansara means no good.

          Like or Dislike: Thumb up 0 Thumb down 1
    • Simon Ng on Mar 11, 2013 at 1:33 pm

      Hello Sam Loo.
      Is this your life aspiration to have the most “Hidden due to low comment rating” on Paul Tan?

      I respect your passion for RV of Toyota.

      If you are able to spent your precious time on this site doing other productive things. You could be more successful than you alreaady are today.

      Like or Dislike: Thumb up 0 Thumb down 1
    • boleh people dont want manufacturer to open factory here so that they can say that NAP fail due to no foreign car maker produce/assemble car here…n thai ckd better maa..jap even better maa they said….

      Like or Dislike: Thumb up 1 Thumb down 0
    • rambo ramsey on Mar 11, 2013 at 4:03 pm

      oi, do you know that Assembly Services (Toyota Plant in Shah Alam) did export Hiace to Thailand? They produce most Toyota cars you sell here (Vios, Camry, Hiace, Innova, Hilux & Fortuner). You think the Malaysian factory boys are rather useless isnt it? They are your fellow malaysian and they have much higher discipline than you. They need to be in the plant before 7.30am, only have break for 10 to 15 minutes, lunch only 35 min, all type of quality gate and method being implemented to get 0.02 DPU SQA to compete with all toyota plant in the region. You think theyre very free like you can simply type nonsense in forum?

      Like or Dislike: Thumb up 2 Thumb down 0
    • Dr Alban on Mar 11, 2013 at 4:08 pm

      Excuse me, but does your Toyota, I mean those Camry, Altis, Vios, Avanza, Hilux that u worship like mad, is MADE IN JAPAN?

      Kah kah kah

      Like or Dislike: Thumb up 0 Thumb down 0
  • …”in line with its localisation efforts to bring costs down.”

    Yeah right. When the difference in price between CBU and CKD is only RM10k, it’s more like the efforts to bring the profit margin up!

    Well-loved. Like or Dislike: Thumb up 67 Thumb down 1
    • Agreed. Just look at Honda Jazz hybrid when CKD, they reduced price a little bit but also took out some other features.

      Like or Dislike: Thumb up 12 Thumb down 1
    • arcana on Mar 11, 2013 at 7:02 pm

      the quote says bring costs down…..
      it never says bring price down…..haih.
      oh wait….there’s price down, equipment also down.

      Like or Dislike: Thumb up 0 Thumb down 0
  • Roger Tan on Mar 11, 2013 at 9:33 am

    What would be the two models to be locally assembled here come 2014?

    The new Mazda 3 and perhaps a new CX-7?

    I don’t think Mazda2 will be assembled here, neither will the 6. Perhaps a new B-segment crossover?

    Like or Dislike: Thumb up 1 Thumb down 0
  • CKD at this moment is for car manufacturers to earn more margin, please don’t confuse and expect that the saving will be pass to end buyers.

    Like or Dislike: Thumb up 32 Thumb down 1
  • bystander on Mar 11, 2013 at 10:20 am

    CBU Japan CX-5s do have issues that are mentioned in forums both in Malaysia and abroad, e.g. leaking sunroof and interior rattles. Then again, even imported continental cars are like that, so sometimes CBU isn’t exactly bulletproof.

    the comments above are right, CKD is a way to earn more money. Good example is the recent Honda Jazz Hybrid CKD – small drop in price, big drop in spec.
    Even for this CX-5, the sunroof is confirmed to be absent from the CKD version, and apparently other goodies as well, for a mere 10k price reduction.
    The current Mazda3 CKD has alignment issues with the dashboard fitment, even in test drive and showroom units, and you are given a crappy Caska DVD Navi unit, urgh.

    Like or Dislike: Thumb up 0 Thumb down 0
    • Jimmy on Mar 11, 2013 at 1:44 pm

      Because somebodies are short-visioned from both parties.

      Like or Dislike: Thumb up 0 Thumb down 0
    • what bout from thai assembly n spec…their spec much lower than malaysia spec thus cheaper price (most of time bet RM15k-20k cheaper)..just look at crv 2.0 thai spec…only dual airbag, no vsa, no motion adaptive, no hsa..

      Like or Dislike: Thumb up 0 Thumb down 0
  • Well done to Bermaz Motor and the government (both local and center) to attract such big investment from Mazda!

    We shall see more job opportunities in the plant.

    Like or Dislike: Thumb up 2 Thumb down 11
  • amfin on Mar 11, 2013 at 11:44 am

    Hopefully our local assembler now will be transparent on their pricing, profits and the various government imposed taxes. Since many of the parts sourced or made locally like tires & rims, batteries etc and not forgetting local factory workers, Malaysian can enjoy a significant price reduction and not mere RM10k drop from CBU prices.

    Like or Dislike: Thumb up 3 Thumb down 0
    • Well, I believe CKD will also get an equipment reduction as well, like 6 airbags become 2, 17″ rim become 16″, Bose sound system become no brand, etc etc.

      “Good good, very good.”

      I rather get CBUs.

      Like or Dislike: Thumb up 7 Thumb down 2
      • arcana on Mar 11, 2013 at 7:05 pm

        only bose and sunroof is gone….safety remains as it is…which is good.

        Like or Dislike: Thumb up 0 Thumb down 0
  • vee-oh on Mar 11, 2013 at 1:09 pm

    Well done for this effort..Mazda vehicles are impressive, you guys deserve to get more market shares and beat those current players, especially Honda & Toyota

    Like or Dislike: Thumb up 2 Thumb down 0
  • DonkeyKong on Mar 11, 2013 at 1:28 pm

    Bermaz’s CKD program will be a big rip-off. Look at the CKD Mazda CX-5. A drop in less than RM10k in selling price, but with a corresponding drop in so many items and accessories! Thanks to the usual greed and unethical business practices of the Berjaya Group, Mazda’s sales which has improved in recent years will once again plunge to obscurity.

    Like or Dislike: Thumb up 7 Thumb down 3
  • Ghopalen on Mar 11, 2013 at 2:20 pm

    Congratulation to Bermaz and Prima Merdu for convincing Mazda Japan to invest and make Malaysia as regional hub. Drop in accessories such as sunroof is acceptable since we are not competent enough in fitting the sunroof at Inokom plant. We may or may not expect the presence of sunroof in future. A drop of +/- 10k for CKD variants is good enough considering the huge amount of money invested at Inokom and high cost of local sourcing. A SUV with this kind of quality and driving pleasure plus 3yrs free maintenance package (labor+parts) is far more worth than any other SUV in the market.

    Like or Dislike: Thumb up 2 Thumb down 6
    • berombon on Mar 11, 2013 at 3:29 pm

      Yup, the sunroof is a really useless feature in our hot Malaysia. We are much better off without it.

      Like or Dislike: Thumb up 7 Thumb down 1
  • JackeyDeck on Mar 11, 2013 at 6:55 pm

    CKD….

    To certain Rakyat, it mean that more job opportunities are created. Which, I for one, appreciated it.

    But to the buyer? Minor reduction in price, lesser features compare to CBU, etc… etc… etc…

    Some of us really doesn’t mind about Malaysian car being expensive. As long as the EXTRA tax that we are paying does significantly contribute the growth of economy and country development. But, sadly, it doesn’t.

    I wish that the EXTRA taxes I paid for every car that I have purchased enable the government to build more public transportation (hence more project introduced n create another cycle of job oppoetunities) which could encourage the rakyat to use rather than driving n burning the minyak soon to be habis. Sadly, that ain’t the case.

    I wish that the EXTRA taxes would also allow rakyat to travel on the LRT MRT buses safely in the city. More patrol policemen protecting the station n etc. Again, Sadly, that ain’t the case as well.

    Sad. Sad. Sad.

    Like or Dislike: Thumb up 18 Thumb down 2
  • Any clue when will be the new m3 sedan design going to be out?

    Like or Dislike: Thumb up 0 Thumb down 0
  • Mickey on Apr 19, 2013 at 6:07 pm

    I am working at Korea DKD center. CKD,DKD can make different quality actually. But MAZDA team they are really try to keep theres quality. I believe this is Japanese car makers power.

    Like or Dislike: Thumb up 2 Thumb down 0
 

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