EP Manufacturing (EPMB) has announced that it is set to begin construction of its planned automotive manufacturing facility in Melaka, having conducted a ground-breaking ceremony to kick start the process.
The move to set up an assembly plant comes after the company’s announcement in July that it had secured conditional approval for a manufacturing license from the ministry of investment, trade and industry (MITI) to manufacture and assemble four-wheeled energy-efficient vehicles (EEVs) and electric vehicles (EVs) in both passenger and commercial categories.
The company said the new facility will be established in several phases at the Hicom Pegoh Industrial Park, with over RM100 million set to be pumped into the project. Upon completion, the assembly plant will have the capacity to produce up to 30,000 vehicles a year in the first phase of its operations. It added that the project is poised to create around 1,000 new job opportunities in Melaka.
The new plant is set to manufacture a couple of vehicle models from BAIC, the BJ40 Plus and X55II SUVs. Local production of the two models was indicated in August when EPMB and BAIC International inked a memorandum of understanding (MoU) to explore right-hand drive assembly of ICE and electric vehicle models for BAIC.
Additionally, EPMB said it also expects to assemble vehicles for Great Wall Motor Sales Malaysia at this plant, based on the MoU that was signed by both parties earlier this week. The sighting of an Ora Good Cat, GWM Cannon and Haval H6 on site at during the ground-breaking ceremony suggests that these GWM models will be assembled in Melaka. Right-hand drive BAIC X55II examples were also displayed at the event.
“The establishment of an electric vehicle (EV) manufacturing facility is a pivotal step in realising our comprehensive vision of developing a 360° supply chain for Malaysia’s EV market. Collaborating closely with our strategic partner, BAIC, we are poised to construct a cutting-edge EV manufacturing facility in Melaka, heralding the commencement of the next chapter in our growth trajectory,” said EPMB group CEO Ahmad Razlan Mohamed.
“Additionally, we are keenly looking forward to collaborating with GWM, our esteemed customer, in contributing to position Malaysia as a central hub for EV and EEV in the ASEAN region,” he added.
The public-listed company has also signed letters of intent with Lingbox to assemble and distribute the mini EV in Malaysia and Indonesia as well as with the Saean Group to develop, manufacture an affordable A-segment EV for Malaysia, although it remains to be seen if these will come to fruition.
The post EPMB to build manufacturing plant in Melaka – to CKD BAIC and GWM models, including EVs; ASEAN hub appeared first on Paul Tan’s Automotive News.
