In recent years, Ford has had a fairly quiet presence in the local automotive scene, but expansion may be on the cards, with news that the American automaker is set to invest in the country, according to a Bernama report.
Over the weekend, it was reported that Malaysia had secured a total of RM63.02 bilion in proposed investments in the United States. In announcing this, prime minister Datuk Seri Anwar Ibrahim said that out of the total, RM8.33 billion were from the trade and investment mission to the US that was organised before the start of the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation (APEC) forum held in San Francisco last week.
Among the investments secured by the trade mission was that from Ford, although it was not revealed in what areas the company would invest, nor how much it would put into the country. It is also not known if the investment plans include vehicle manufacturing in the country, and to what extent electrification will figure in the scheme of things.
At present, Ford conducts assembly operations in Thailand for models in the Ranger pick-up family as well as the Everest SUV, but has yet to define plans or a shift towards electrification in the region.
However, things look like they are changing. Earlier this year, the brand announced that it was investing in a nickel processing plant in Indonesia, joining PT Vale Indonesia and Zhejiang Huayou Cobalt in a USD4.5 billion (RM21 billion) venture to set up the plant in Southeast Sulawesi. As for Malaysia, it remains to be seen what scope and breadth the reported investment will take.
Other investments secured by the trade mission include that from Abbott Laboratories, Boeing, Amazon Web Services and Amsted Rail. The remaining investments that were secured were from the various one-on-one meetings held by Anwar while at the APEC forum, and include those from Google, Microsoft and TikTok.
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Anwar menang, investment mari
Ye ke? Tengok je datang baru percaya. Dia ni pakar silap mata, skejap kata datang lepas tuu trus hilang.
Tkpela kita cuba. PN 33bulan takdak apa2
Use AMIM Factory at Shah Alam as CKD assembly?
That lot is under Tan Chong now.
Just keep a skeptical mind how true is this information, those US companies quoted have a far larger presence in Thailand (Rayong) and coupled with falling sales of Ford cars, we are not important enough for them to care.
Look at how they kept SD as their sole distro and you will know what is their view on our market. Take what was reported with lots of salt. Anwar learned from his guru Mahathir to report these MOU figures which turn out to be far far far less in reality.
You underestimate Malaysia auto market too little too much, sweetie. Self hate Malaysian can go to Singapore
Without ap holder interference, i am sure General Motor would like to chase after Tesla in Malaysia.
anyone that believes in all these fairy tale “investment” numbers plucked from air needs to be warded at tanjung rambutan immediately.
CKD Mustang with V8 engine or CKD Mach-E? for sure for demand for Mustang here.
Too bad Ford does not have a affordable BEV like Fiesta BEV or Focus BEV. The F-150 Lightning is too big for Malaysian roads.