According to a report by Bernama, Land Rover Malaysia says it is looking into the possibility of reviving local assembly operations for several models here.
Currently, the company only produces the Defender here, with three variants (the 110 Double Cab, 110 HC Pick Up and 110 Station Wagon) built by Inokom at its Kulim plant. Previously assembled models were the Discovery and Freelander models in Shah Alam.
Its managing director, Syed Mudzhar Syed Ali, told reporters that the company is looking forward to assembling the Range Rover Evoque, and said that the company is confident of expertise for the assembly as well as the capability of its existing plants. If it’s restarted, production should also cater for regional export to neighbouring ASEAN markets.
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I’ve always admired the Land Rover series. Imho, it’s good news only if it effects the local price of the car. If it does, at least it will be that much more ‘affordable’.
if only if through CKD the prices can be significantly reduced…I bet after CKD evoque will still cost close to or even spot on 300k…unless they reduce some of the currently available options…but then it’s a good move for them…seeing the evoque is selling like hot cakes in malaysia
I already suspected this was the case when sime darby appointed the inokom assembly plant head as the md of land rover.
fall in love with evoque… hope afford to have one if localised… :)
Let’s hope the local assembler and distributors will not forget the spare parts, least it will be modified to accept Japanese parts.
after ckd the price is still easily above 200k or even 300k, so it is still beyond most of our affordability even though it is a nice car
Cheaper Evoque? Way to go!
Assemble only. Malaysia car industry is still
in kindergarten after 40 years of NAP.
Only in the absence of Excise duty, as stated in Manifesto, then LR have the chance to go below RM200k (non-commercial vehicles).
What will be interesting is to see how this goes.
Inokom is doing a pretty good job assembling the 3 and 5 series over the years, as far as the SKD ones go, they are almost the same quality as the German ones.
But the biggest problem of Inokom is in their CKD cars. Sit in a Hyundai and you will feel the difference. Cars like the i10 are solid, but not as solid as the exact same cars made in the Hyundai India plant. Even the fluidic Elantra did not take off, (it is a fact, people are still buying the outgoing Forte) cause of quality and packaging. The 2012 Elantra leather seats feel cheapo. The GPS nav is horrendous. Try sitting in the Korean made Hyundais and you will feel the difference. The Veloster is WAY better built than the Elantra in terms of materials. They don’t have this issue with BMW cause there is no local content. In fact, SKD only means that the doors, wheels and the powertrain are placed into the car. The electronics and interior is still German. Not to mention, most of the time the CKD Hyundai spec list is not as good as its brothers and sisters in Kia, which are CKD too.
If LR makes SKD Evoques, they will definitely slay the Q5, XC60 and X3. The XC60 is currently the cheapest, followed by the X3 and Q5 and finally the Evoque. In fact, the price difference of the Q5 with B&O and MMI is 10 k off the otr price of an Evoque Si4 5 Door. But you get more in a LR and its more luxurious. IF LR brings the Evoque, SKD it, and sell at about 320k, that will be the end of Audi. Audi had a chance to slay the 5er and 3er and the E and C class. But they messed up due to the lack of A6 Hybrids. No one is buying the X3, so we can eliminate it out, only left is the XC60, Q5 and Evoque. As long as the QC is there, LR will make a splash.
evoque is damn ugly…CKD something that can sell overseas easily…CKD the discovery series already good enough.
yeah, wondering why they are giving discounts for the CBU Evoques until this announcement. If selling below 300K from 350K then worth looking into as will be more lux than XC60 or X3..or even the grey market Q5s.