The Sabah state government aims to forge a collaboration with investors to build automotive production and assembly plants there, according to a Bernama report. Assistant finance minister for Sabah Sarifuddin Hata said that the state was organising discussions with UMW Toyota Motor and Nissan distributor Edaran Tan Chong Motor to build these facilities.
“We will soon hold discussions with Toyota and Tan Chong Motor and they have also expressed interest in assembling vehicles in Sabah,” said the Merotai MP yesterday.
Sarifuddin added that the move would not only provide jobs to locals but also unleash the potential of the downstream industry. He also said that the initiative would enable Sabah to drive the automotive sector more intensely over the next five to 10 years.
“Sabahans have the capability to develop the automotive sector through the efforts of the Ministry of Education and Innovation Sabah to nurture the highly skilled and creative youth,” he said.
Looking to sell your car? Sell it with Carro.
since the Sabah state change in May. This will provide brighter job opportunities to local Sabahans.
Another one of those manifesto janjis. Toyota Bukit Raja and TCMA Serendah still not yet max capacity why they wanna go there?
Bagan coming soon..
https://paultan.org/2018/05/08/tan-chong-bina-hub-automotif-di-bagan-datuk-suntik-pelaburan-jangka-panjang-bernilai-rm500-juta/
if they can do it, why not. New Malaysia shall not oppose just the sake to oppose. Those will greatly benefited the rakyat we shall applaud.
hopefully, they’ll also take care the current line so that no workers having adverse affect by introducing new assembly line.
The previous govt painstakingly clear all the timbers in Sabah so that automotive plants can be build now.
Everyone (especially Sabahan and Sarawakian) knows Japanese car is the best.
Why want to go there?! Sabah & Sarawak use lots of 4X4 john. It make economic sense to have a plant in Sabah.
Nope. Read what commenter Azahari says below.
Proton has 100% utilization rate, build now sell few years later. Want a 2016 brand new suprima s with RM20k discount? Just pm little johnny.
Long long time ago, Tun M has killed foreign automotive investor, in the name of protecting Proton. Now, even he say yes, I doubt Toyota say yes! They already has the big plant in Thailand and Indo.. !
No pan Borneo highways how to deliver the cars bah
Navara & Hilux can take on any Borneo terrain bah
if you think the market is only for pan borneo both company won’t set up factory there
Not to mention the extra effort to bring in parts from suppliers on the Peninsular, or even the need for Roro vessels for assembled vehicles.
They oso have Bukit Raja.
There was a time in the eighties they assembled BMWs in Sarawak and shipped them to peninsular on exposed ships. Full of rust in one or two years. Hope they have gotten smarter.
Why they wanna go there when current plants still not reach capacity yet?
Not easy. All resources for parts are manufacture in Peninsular and Thailand. Car market also high in peninsular and Thailand. Doesn make any sense to open factory so far from the customers and suppliers.
Everyone wants to go into the auto business. It quite crowded already. Find something out of the box. Be smart.
but got economies of scale in sabah sarawak? unless they export to kalimantan also
LOL, we cant even have continuous power supply…korean manufacturer the first victim years back…
Car plant is not using hand to tanam!
Nice to see an update on Tan Chong’s proposed Sabah plant. It’s been several years now, but it looks like TCM is no closer to completing their Sabah plant. Personally, I doubt the plant will ever be built.
Car plants depend on vendor participation. Many of the plants in Malaysia are built close to each other. Vendors prefer to set up operations as close to (or inside) the main plants as possible, to more easily co-ordinate their operations with the main plant, in line with the ‘Just In Time’ process. Logistics is the key to efficiency, and also quality control in some cases.
There are just not enough vendors in East Malaysia to support a major CKD plant there. It just doesn’t make economic sense for vendors to produce parts in the Peninsular, and ship them to East Malaysia for final assembly. Likely, the finished car will then be shipped back to the Peninsular for sale. Why ? Because the new car market in East Malaysia is just too small. Commercial vehicles are much more popular there.
I strongly believe that East Malaysia has the potential for a major commercial vehicle plant… a decade or two from now. But at the moment, it’s too close to call.
In my honest opinion, it makes much more sense to build a new car plant in Kelantan as opposed to East Malaysia. Anyway, it is ultimately up to Tan Chong, UMWT and the other parties involved to decide the true viability of a car plant in Sabah or Sarawak.
UMW already getting the new plant in Bukit Raja ready in 2019. Toyota will be back to the market with the already good products and with competitive price on 2020. Not really seeing the need of having another plant in east Malaysia unless targeting export to Indonesia.
ETCM is way too slow to react, by the time the next GE already coming.
In the 90s, KMA (Kinabalu Motor Assembly) had actively assembling Suzuki Jimnys, Vitaras and Isuzu Invaders and Troopers for the Borneo markets..:)
i fully support this idea.. these 2 brands have the most numbers of 4×4 in East Malaysia.. its ideal to assemble it here at the same time to reduce cost, thus selling price
This is because the new Warisan’s CM asked car maker to produced SUV in Sabah because of its needs and popularity. So the latter the Pan Borneo completed, the better for this plant.
Good move. Sabah really need some major industry to push the economy. All i can see is just SMEs. The few big companies i.e. Petronas Factory at Kimanis, the god-knows-what factory in Sipitang, plantation etc are not enough to push Sabah economy forward.