Volvo's history in Malaysia dates back to the early 1960s. Four businessmen from
Penang had travelled to Volvo's establishment in Sweden to propose plans to market Volvo cars in Malaysia.
[4][5] Volvo granted the group the distributorship rights, and the Federal Auto Company Sdn. Bhd. was founded in March 1960.
[6] The first Volvo cars were imported into Malaysia in that same month.
[6] Initially, sales were slow-paced, but by 1966, Volvo cars had gained a good reputation in Malaysia, while Federal Auto had expanded their network throughout West Malaysia and Singapore.
[7]
The
Volvo 144 became the debut model for the Swedish Motor Assemblies plant.
[7]
In September 1966, Swedish Motor Assemblies Sdn. Bhd. (SMA) was established as a joint venture on a 50/50 basis between Volvo and Federal Auto.
[6][7] SMA was established in response to a government-proposed initiative to set up an
automotive industry in Malaysia.
[4] Foreign and local companies were granted licenses and incentives to facilitate local assembly of vehicles and manufacturing of vehicle components. Volvo was one of nineteen firms which expressed interest in the project.
Construction of the Swedish Motor Assemblies plant commenced in March 1967 in an industrial estate in
Batu Tiga, near
Shah Alam.
[7] Construction was hampered by the
1967 Suez crisis and other issues, but was completed on schedule in October 1967.
[7] The
Volvo 144 became the first model to roll-off the SMA assembly line in November 1967.
[7] The Minister of Transport,
Sardon Jubir, test drove the first Malaysian-assembled Volvo the following month.
[8] The Minister of Commerce and Industry,
Lim Swee Aun, officially opened the Swedish Motor Assemblies plant on 17 February 1968.
[7]
The Swedish Motor Assemblies plant is widely credited as the 'first automobile assembly plant in Malaysia'.
[7] However, SMA was preceded by
Singapore-based Ford Motor Company of Malaya (Ford Malaya), which began local assembly operations in November 1926.
[9] In April 1941, Ford Malaya built Southeast Asia's first fully-fledged automobile assembly plant in
Bukit Timah, Singapore.
[9] The plant was later renamed the Ford Motor Company of Malaysia (Ford Malaysia), and briefly became Malaysia's oldest automobile assembly plant when
Singapore was part of Malaysia (September 1963–August 1965).
[10] Additionally, Kelang Pembena Kereta-Kereta (KPKK) had commenced
Fiat car assembly in August 1967 at their all-new assembly plant in
Tampoi, Johor, three months ahead of Swedish Motor Assemblies.
[11] However, the official opening of the KPKK plant took place on 26 February 1968, nine days after SMA's official opening.
[11] Nonetheless, both Ford and Fiat assembly plants have since shut down, while the Volvo plant has survived and remains active today.
As a better-equipped model from 1984, there were also the
Volvo 240. In the mid-nineties, the
Volvo S40 and its wagon version Volvo V40 were introduced. With the takeover by Ford, SMA also began manufacturing
Land Rover Defenders. From 1999 until the spring of 2010 the plant was part of
Ford Motor Company.
The first model of the new millennium in 2001 came the luxurious
Volvo S60 added. This Volvo ran into the Malaysian market for the first time in the upper middle class. Two years later, it was followed by the
Volvo S80and SUV
Volvo XC90. In 2004, after all, the S40 was replaced by its second generation. The combined
Volvo V50 was only added in the following year. In July 2006, the coupe-convertible
Volvo C70 debuted. In 2008 it was followed by the
Volvo C30. The old S80, which still was manufactured here in the first generation. With the new joint venture Indobuana Autoraya, this model was exported to Jakarta,
Indonesia. The replacement came in April 2010 by the current model of the type
Volvo AS.
Up to 6000 units per year are manufactured in the Malaysian plant, with approximately 500 employees working in two shifts. The site comprises a total area of 25,000 square metres. Distribution of vehicles is handled by the in-house sales organization, Volvo Car Malaysia Sdn. Bhd.. The vehicles assembled here have vehicle identification number (VIN), with the eleventh position of the assembly plant, a "5". SMA also built parts for
VolvoAB and
Renault Trucks SAS Truck Commercial.
As of Q1 2016, only the
V40,
V60,
S60 and
XC60 remain in production.
[12] Production of the first generation
XC90 ceased in September 2014, while the last
S80 unit rolled off the line in August 2015.
Volvo Car Manufacturing Malaysia commenced local assembly of the second generation
XC90 in May 2016, making it the first
plug-in hybrid electric vehicle (PHEV) to be assembled in Malaysia.
[13] The locally assembled (CKD) XC90 T8 Twin Engine was formally launched on 1 June 2016, approximately six months after the debut of the fully imported (CBU) XC90.
[14][15] VCMM's 50-year-old
Shah Alam plant is the first and currently only plant to assemble the new XC90 outside Sweden.
[15] Volvo had greatly invested in the plant's infrastructure to handle to the company's new
Scalable Product Architecture (SPA) platform. The locally assembled XC90 was granted EEV status and significant tax exemptions, allowing it to be priced well under its fully imported, non-hybrid/EV competitors.
[13] In terms of specifications, the CKD XC90 is almost identical to the CBU XC90, with differences being limited to paint options and other cosmetic changes.
[15] VCM will export the new Malaysian-assembled XC90 to neighbouring Thailand, and the company has also announced plans to assemble the upcoming
S90 in the near future.
[13]
Local assembly of the new
Volvo S90 commenced in June 2017. VCMM currently assembles two variants of the S90, namely the T8 Twin Engine plug-in hybrid and D4 Momentum diesel respectively.
[16] In August 2017, VCMM began exporting both Malaysian-assembled S90 models to Thailand.
[16]
References[edit]
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