The Kedah government plans to expand the Kulim Hi-Tech Park (KHTP) and Gurun’s automotive industry, as both have attracted foreign investors to the state, Bernama reports.
Chief minister Datuk Seri Mukhriz Tun Dr Mahathir said efforts will be made to further increase the number of investors in these areas.
“As I see it, the Kulim Hi-Tech Park is a ‘crowd-puller’ among investors as the management is aggressive in promoting itself overseas. And, in Gurun, the automotive industry is massive.
“It’s our aim to expand both the KHTP and the automotive industry,” he said, adding that a rubber city, a science and technology park and a medical technology park are planned to be established soon.
“We hope Japanese investors will partner us in the science and technology park,” said the chief minister, adding that the state government has taken many initiatives to locate industrial parks in strategic locations with the aim of enticing investors.
“(If) in Bukit Kayu Hitam, it is located adjacent to southern Thailand. If in Kulim and Sungai Petani, new industrial parks are coming up near the Kulim International Airport and they are not far from the port, railway and highways. This is the extra edge that we can offer these investors in order to attract them to the state,” he said.
Two major automotive manufacturing facilities are located in Kedah – Inokom’s Kulim plant (which also assembles for Hyundai, BMW, MINI, Mazda and the Ford Transit) and Naza’s Gurun plant (which assembles Peugeots, Citroens, Kias, the Great Wall M4 and possibly from July 2016, BAIC electric vehicles).
Additionally, Mukhriz revealed last year that a 1.6 km race circuit is planned to be built in Sungai Petani. When it is completed in 2016 or 2017, the ‘Kedah Circuit’ will be the northern motorsports hub, and be near the proposed Kulim International Airport.
Looking to sell your car? Sell it with Carro.
And over at Tanjung Malim plant they
using it as futsal and badminton court.
Tidak apa and snob investors as they are considered a threat.
What is the scale compared to Thailand? All thanks to your beloved Proton!
The install tyre-only plant? Isn’t thats the same for DRB-Hicom in Pekan?
good.
Kulim could be the new Detroit in the future
To become an automotive hub, must also well equipped with the Tier 1 suppliers. If you go to Thailand, then you will see how well the Thai government has lured the major global suppliers. Still a very long way to go and in fact we are already years behind to catch up.
1.6km track is to short for Motorsport especially for car race should be at least 3km…
At least 2 km if we follow the example of small circuits like Tsukuba(2.07km) and Ebisu(2.1km)
You see, the other thing you need to also take into account is the quality of the cars being produced at the Kedah plants. Hyundais, BMWs, Peugeots and Kias suffer from final fit and finish issues compared to the ones built overseas. If you guys can have a check-balance to ensure the assemblers are up to scratch, you could actually make the “Imported from Kedah” a brand, just like “imported from Detroit”.
The problem with most non-national car plants in Malaysia is that the level of automation is relatively low. It’s expensive to buy and install advanced robots for each assembly line. However, if volume is high, the cost can be justified and negated with economies of scale, but none of the volume-orientated non-national car plants produce over 100,000 units a year. The level of automation in Thailand’s plants is much higher because they’ve achieved the desired economies of scale. Indonesia not so much, but they will soon. In Malaysia, only Perodua’s new second plant in Serendah has reached true economies of scale with the Axia at almost 9,000 units produced a month.
But it’s not over yet. Tan Chong Motor Assemblies (TCMA) has proven that you don’t need high-volume outputs and the best robots in business to assemble quality cars. At one point in time, TCMA’s Segambut plant was ranked third best for assembly quality in the Nissan world (only losing to the U.S. and U.K.). That was many years ago of course, and TCMA’s Serendah plant has raised the bar even further since. It’s certainly easier to make quality cars with higher automation in the plants, but it’s still possible to do a top job without the robots too… it’s just going to be more challenging.
So yes sudonano, you’re absolutely right on that, there is no point in assembling cars here if build quality ends up lacking. Most often, the problem lay in the vendors and it’s crucial that ALL car assembling companies in Malaysia, even Proton and Perodua, find trusted, reliable and quality vendors if they want to make reliable and quality cars.
kudos to gov of Kedah. I hope this will create more job and business opportunity to the people. Perhaps this would attract people from other states to flock to Kedah instead of KV. I feel KV is too crowded now. Jam everywhere anytime.
The article is quite misleading
There are actually 2 distinct and unrelated companies assembling cars in gurun, naza automotive and green orange automotive.
By the way gurun also is the home of motorcycle manufacturer modenas.
Ktm motorcycle from Austria has jitra as its factory base.
Need more of you sorhai tai lan ngongs to buy Elantra and SOnata brand new.
Do ignore the offers by Toyota, eventhough you know dam well that that is the right brand to buy