Naza Group, the ambitious hotels-to-motorbike company that signed a distribution agreement with GM in March, believes it could start to assemble the cars in Malaysia and export them to other Southeast Asia markets, CEO Faisal Nasimuddin told reporters on Monday without giving any indication of timings.
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The company currently imports its Chevrolet models – Aveo, Captiva, Cruze and Optra – from across the border in Thailand.
“I am optimistic we will be able to set up an assembly plant. GM is keen. We want the investment to come to Malaysia,” said Faisal.
The Naza group already has an assembly plant for Peugeot models in Gurun, Kedah, the northern Malaysian state on the border with Thailand, where Chevrolet models could be assembled, he added.
Mr Faisal said Naza hopes to boost Chevrolet sales to between 35,000 and 40,000 cars by 2015 before establishing an assembly facility in Malaysia, Southeast Asia’s biggest passenger car market.
“GM sees Malaysia as a very strategic market,” he said, adding that it wants to turn Malaysia into a regional hub in much the same way that Peugeot has done with Naza.
Faisal said Malaysia should provide tax incentives to woo foreign car makers in a bid to become a Southeast Asian hub, a position currently held by Thailand.
