UMW Toyota To Build A Second Assembly Plant In Malaysia

UMW Toyota Motor Sdn. Bhd., the distributor of Toyota vehicles in Malaysia will be building a second vehicle assembly plant in Malaysia, reports Japan’s Nikkei.

The Japanese business weekly adds that the new 30 billion Yen  (RM 110.5 million) plant will come online in 2018, with an annual capacity of 50,000 vehicles, but could be increased to produce 100,000 vehicles per year if necessary.

The plant will be built by UMW Toyota Motor, the distributor of Toyota vehicles in Malaysia co-owned by UMW Holdings and Toyota Tsuho.

Currently, all Malaysia-assembled Toyota vehicles are built at UMW Toyota Motor’s subsidiary Assembly Services Sdn. Bhd.’s (ASSB) plant in Shah Alam. Built in 1968, ASSB is the second oldest car plant in the country after the Swedish Motor Assemblies plant in Shah Alam, which has been producing and exporting Volvo cars and trucks since 1967.

The existing ASSB plant has an annual production capacity of 67,000 units (without overtime or holiday shifts) and produces the Hilux, Fortuner, Innova, Hiace, Vios, and Camry (including Camry Hybrid). Except for the Hiace (standard wheelbase model), which is also exported to Thailand, all other ASSB-assembled model are exclusively for our domestic market.

Apart from the ASSB assembly plant, UMW Toyota Motor also has three other plants in Shah Alam – Toyota Auto Body which stamps metal body panels, Automotive Industries Sdn. Bhd. (AISB), which makes exhausts and components for instrument panels, and Toyota Boshoku which makes seat frames.

UMW Toyota Motor is expected to make an official announcement on the matter within the next week.