There has been much excitement, and speculation, since the announcement that Volkswagen has signed an MoU with DRB-Hicom to locally assemble cars at the latter’s Pekan plant. Everyone has their guesses (some incredibly sure) on the identity of the three models, but thanks to a statement from Volkswagen Group Malaysia (VGM), we now know that the list WILL NOT include models currently sold in Malaysia. Here’s the verbatim press statement:
Following the announcement in August on the signing of the Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) with DRB-HICOM Berhad to collaborate on local assembly, Volkswagen would like to reiterate the content of the MoU that both parties are still in the early stage of investigating local vehicle assembly. The joint plans envisage the production of Volkswagen models in Malaysia from 2012 onwards.
The matter is still under negotiations and as a policy, Volkswagen will not comment on ongoing discussions. Suffice it to say, the models / variants in negotiations to be locally assembled will not be the models which are currently offered in Malaysia.
VGM’s current range consists of the five-door Polo 1.2 TSI, New Beetle, Golf 1.4 TSI, Scirocco (160 PS/210 PS), Golf GTI, Passat CC, Eos, Tiguan and Touareg V6 SUV.
Oh no…=(
So, what they are saying is the won’t be making the models we actually want to buy in Pekan. Great!
May be there are other models which might be more interesting at affordable costs…..
This is a good move so that it won’t disrupt the current Volkswagen owners
well i certainly hope they assemble the polo and golf sedans.
jetta means golf sedan
the third one might be the touran
yes,they should assemble touran here
http://www.autoevolution.com/news-g-image/mr-car-design-volkswagen-touran-introduced/31227.html#image
jetta perhaps?
That kinda leaves us with the Jetta, Golf plus, and the Sharan. I highly doubt the Phaeton will be CKD and sold here.
So what will be the offering???
WHY!?
wa~ not including any range of the available car now…
that means car like jetta?? and what else?
phewwww……
Maybe a new car called Hicomwagen
Just wondering guys….
Will it be definitely a VW badge car? Or any car under the Volkswagen Group? Skoda? Seat?
Good point there.
Thats possible
Maybe SEAT..
i’m partial to SEAT….SEAT….SEAT!!!
skoda’s not a bad choice or maybe even opel/vauxhall!!
bring ’em all, VW!!!
oepl/vauxhall is owned by GM.
but hell yeah to SEAT!
jetta? touran? and what i hoped the most – Vento india!
i know a person from pekan assembly who told me the models which are going to be ckd are golf, passat n another unconfirmed…
guess with this anouncement i’ll be disappointed for not having cheaper golf or passat…
who? Canteen owner? Telephonist? Manager? Makcik cleaner? or dispatch boy?
The lady who operates the foodstall down the road not too far from pekan assembly… ;)
I believe their plan is to significantly increase their market share and the best body style will be the sedan as south east asia is a sedan market… Hatchback should be left as a premium choice while a sedan to appeal the normal buyer….
cud still be passat since current lineup is only passat cc
VK Golf GTi MKVII then
cheaper jetta then hahaha !!!!!!!!!!! If price to be below RM100k would be nice and more choice to the above average malaysian !!!!!!!!!!!!!1
Jetta is C-segment like Altis and Civic so it is pretty unlikely that a German is going to undercut the Japanese so much…
What about Polo GTI?
It was not in local line yet, right?..
Sound interesting hoh…..
Dear Paul,
Kindly state your source as this statement could not be found anywhere else but here!
BR
Straight from VGM corporate communications. Other “sources” may be slower to put it up.
Give me VW Pickup Truck. AFAIK, pickup truck no need to pay same amount of tax like other cars.
In my opinion – this could be an appropriate strategy adopted by VW so that the sales of the existing CBU VW cars are not being jeopardise by a substantially cheaper locally assembled CKD VW cars. VW like all car manufacturer and/or assembler must generate adequate sale volume to justify their operation in any location worldwide. It does not make business sense not to assemble/manufacture the more popular VW cars (like Polo, Golf, Beetle). This is merely a tactical & temporary action. I am confident VW will soon make a U-turn announcement contradicting the above.
Pandai. Avoiding the anger of VW owners who bought CBU models.
i wan ckd golf tsi
Too bad. They clearly said they WONT do cars that are currently on sale here.
Biasa la…..anything can happen in Malaysia.
I sense politics has got something to do with this, at the expense of the rakyats’ lesser choice of cars to choose from…..
Balik-balik kete Proton…..haih……
also got Myvi and Naza… Inokom also…
u r right matakatak, one good example is who ever thought proton will be rebadging mistubishi again after all these years…. and in a matter of weeks, we will see lancers as new proton.
Touran, Polo sedan & either Jetta or new Fox.
it can Carevelle for all we know. or Transporter. LOL
please see volks jetta 2011 guys !! super hot! better looking than golf… its like sirocco but sedan !
check this out
http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/9/9f/2011volkswagenjetta.JPG/250px-2011volkswagenjetta.JPG
more like a polo front.
Unlike mitsubishi, vw know how to keep their current customers happy.
Thank you vw. I love u!
jetta!! jetta!! jetta!!!…and most probably MPV’s!
so that means polo gti is excluded?? what is the time frame for this statement?
O.O Such a HUGE disappointment!
Please dumb Phaeton here, and Amarok.
Polo sedan, Jetta and the Touran
Maybe the old VW beetle,haha.just joking.
i don’t mind a “new” old bettle anytime
me too!!
Please don’t assemble the VW Fox here!
Potential model: Polo sedan,Phaeton.
Passat makes sense.. suitable to replace the aging Perdana v6 fleet.
Golf (sans GTi) will be good for the premium small car market (Suzuki GTI/Jazz/Yaris)
jetta will make NAZA and chevy’s life a lot harder…
Heard from sources of DRB-HICOM that it will be the VW Fox city car(to compete with the Myvi), VW Touran, and VW Jetta.
SANTANA – you can find lots of them in China.
santana is older generation of passat, it looks so ugly, ppl rather buy national car.
something fishy going on…. if its selling prices too low, then our national car sales would be affected, so better said VW want to retain their customer’s 2nd hand value….
rakyat always dibelakangkan….
There goes my dream of Golf CKD…
Maybe Jetta can make it up.
the old beetle, camper, and sharan ckd in malaysia!
comments may be just to keep sales and second hand values up for the moment
certianly they are tying to jaga the market of the current VW sales.
Disappointing. At least Naza is able to bring us all Peugeot line-ups despite they being CKD
the ckd models will be:
1. touran
2. passat saloon (not CC of course)
3. can’t remember what i was told…. one of the SUVs
whatever that is currently being brought in as cbu will not be ckd’ed
Pekan facility will assemble this models, namely
1st-Touran= from Indonesia for MPV market currently dominated by Exora, Avanza, Innova, Livina, Rondo, Eastar
2nd-Vento=Polo with booted as VW bread and butter car to counter with the likes of Vios, City
3rd-Jetta=current Jetta only available in mexico and USA; so we’ll get this C-segment model if VW have intention to compete with market leader-Civic
The VGM statement is important to heal existing VW buyers as well to encourage new buyers from delaying their purchase.
I doubt VW can accelerate their car adoption rate in 1 year time. Hardly they can sell more than 2500 unit per annum this year.
if true, the order will be reverse, Jetta – Polo – Touran
There are lots of Jettas running in Singapore.
Vento, Jetta and Amarok!
Amarok Rocks !
Some possibilities about Amarok: http://biz.thestar.com.my/news/story.asp?sec=business&file=/2010/8/26/business/6921184
4 ya info, traditionalist always will listen to their head over their heart when come to SUT. Hilux is default choice whether you like it or not. Low level of technology still perceived positive by most hard-core users/
I hate to see no close challenger to under-specced Hilux.
Possible Passat 5 seater & Jetta + Polo Sedan?
very speculative. only can do is wait. time will tell Surprises!
patut Proton x mau….
Just marketing strategy not to disturb the vw sales here now. They will come with the same line up as sold here curently…Who want to buy other models?
COULD be the jetta wagen or saloon variant, the passat saloon and the C Polo
oh no…
gone are my hope of a cheaper golf and tiguan…. =(((((((
Its sure good news for people who just bought the models currently offered (or can’t wait for the CKD).
However, its mixed feelings for those who can wait. In a way, its disappointing for some who are hoping to get the currently available models at a lower price, e.g the Golf 1.4 TSI. For those who are not really interested in the currently available models, its definitely good news as there will be more choices in VW stable.
For me, I am quite disappointed… :(
I was hoping for the Golf 1.4 TSI with a price tag to challenge the likes of Civic, Altis, Lancer, etc.
w12 phaeton!!!!!
the price will remain premium as merc assemble in pekan..
macam macam la …. this cannot, that cannot … c’mon la … customer 1st priority …
cakap macam tak cakap…XD
i believe sure is Jetta & touran for 2012 model…the third 1 dun hv clue….at least i feel more relief about they won’t CKD the passat cc….nw stay happy n continue loyal to VW…VW understand & care more of their customer and aware in creating brand loyalty….that y every m’sian love German car like Mercedes, Bmw, VW
Good to hear, now it could well be something like the Touran , Fox and maybe Jetta …
anyhow, its worth an applaud for VGM for not double crossing their existing CBU owners and soon to be ones by eventually having CKDs …
unlike what a jap carmaker is doing with the new Waja …..
so next time don’t buy mitsubishi…buy toyota & honda is the best choice….at least won’t face this problems when bcm CKD by proton…significantly hurt the Mitsubishi owner and face sudden drop of car resale value…..Brand loyalty down down until negative…
Oh…. abit disappointed… according our car policy. i think
Gol GTI 2010 1.6
jetta 2.0
touran 2,0
Alaaaa… just a tactic of VW to protect their sales in Malaysia. If they announce that they’re going to CKD the current models available in Malaysia sure the sales will drop because people will wait for the CKD models.
you’re pretty much stating the obvious.
VW pickup Amarok is better choice for CKD since our pick-up market still downplayed by Hilux. Another competition is better. Even new Ford Ranger, Mazda Fighter, Chevy Colorado next pick-up will be larger, wider in size like Hilux size and Amarok size actually closer to Ford F150 size.
In fact Proton (if ally with VW) could rebadge Amarok pick-up or even add the cabin as SUV model like Fortuner or Pajero Sport. Now let’s see if Proton have guts to rebadge Triton.
If Touran mpv comes in, the pricing will be trickier to beat RM75k Exora. Anyway good competition means more choice to buyers.
Proton already have an SUV based on the Exora platform on the cards, why they need to rebadge another car?
This is all part of VW marketing strategy to protect itself due so much speculation right and also they must make sureCKD programme will be smooth and able to meet its delivery time.
No point in having ckd programme like other so called national car company where you have to wait 8 months for new car.
VW already proves itself in china where it is no 1 right now. It is only in SEA their cars are not appreciated. Hopefully with the new management the brand will be able to garner sufficient interest.
Yes, inclined to agree with razzack 04. That was called as ‘business politic’. If VW said they will produce passat and polo in pekan in 2012, there will be no more sales for cbu passat and polo in 2010 and 2011. People will wait for ckd model. Wait and see first.
Do not ever believe with business people. They are cheating us.
screw ckd. i can afford cbu.
Gimme VW MPVs, superminis n wagons!
MOST LIKELY will be the new Jetta (sedan version of Golf) & Vento (sedan version of Polo).
Whatever they assemble hopefully they will retain the use of the DSG gearboxes here as well as the TSi engines that we come to love so much. No point getting a NA VW.
Volkswagen actually has another type of gearbox offered in South America called ASG – it’s a single clutch automated manual.
Spoke to the sales guy. It’ll be Touran, the old Passat and Fox.
1.4 TSI Touran will be great!…below honda freak $$..(hahahha..dreaming)
Fox? what a lame car…
yeah… that is what i was told… not too sure abt the Fox but i rememeber an SUV in the conversation. looking at the lineup, they are also targeting to use the plant as a regional hub. but by the time the new plant is up and running we would probably have mk7 golf and the new beetle… so that is still a possibility since it’s bread and butter models in this part of the world.
few cars that we dont get here.. polo gti, golf GT, 2 door golf gti and golf R.
YA RIGHT!! we wont be doing any of those.. and stop dreaming!! =P
How about the Sharan?….wt the 1.4tsi…alphard size & power but saga road tax & altis like FC…wish we can have the 2.0tdi but our euro2m ; (
we have CKD Beemers and Mercs here in Malaysia. how much cheaper is a CKD BMW/Merc compared to a CBU unit?
not much.
expect the same for the CKD VWs, regardless of what models they’re planning to assemble here.
well, it depends on few factors actually. and the most important is the ‘local components’. to be eligible for tax reduction and also for AFTA, the car must have at least 40% local components. if you didn’t meet this criteria, of course you won’t get sharp decline in the price. that’s the case with Merc, BMW and not to forget, Bufori too.
touran, passat and fox. what i heard la. caya la no ckd for golf n polo. Better off with cbu models. build quality far superior. hehe.
tapi buatan malaysia kita kena jaguh kuat kuat ye ….
Fox? totally lame!
This actually makes alot of sense, most prob they will throw their light commercial vehicle to be produce here… or like what some of the above said, Fox and now maybe even Sharan… hhmm… maybe their main target for this is to gain a foothold in the commercial arena in this region…
Supposely the CKD will be much cheaper compare to CBU, but not much difference. If can get CBU from thialand, it is still have better qualirt than local CKD…
actually the saving is alot but that goes as a higher profit margin for the franchise dealers. he he…
* not working for them.
I can see people still speculating on which models to produce, why can’t u just come clean VGM :)
my guess is, they will not ckd the available current model (generation) but once all- new model of golf, polo comes out in 4-5 years later… surely they will ckd if good demand…
it seems they want to protect the current ‘newly’ appointed importer. Why is that?
i believed it will be golf… no point selling other model than that,,,, they are smart german…