KUANTAN: With it’s third production line set up here, and 100,000 vehicles assembled in 15 years, Mercedes-Benz Malaysia (MBM) said today that it is eyeing new opportunities to market its vehicles in Southeast Asia.
Its president and chief executive officer, Dr Claus Weidner, said this after announcing its first completely knocked down (CKD) left-hand drive Mercedes-Benz C180 which will exported from Malaysia to the Philippines starting this month.
Weidner said the company was looking at regulations as well as import and export criteria to determine whether it was feasible to market its cars to other countries in Southeast Asia.
“We’re looking into other countries besides Philippines but we can’t reveal now where the focus is as we are still investigating what are the other opportunities and see if it is a feasible option,” he said.
“In support of the country’s international trade industry within the SEA region, we will begin exports this year.
“The export of our best-selling limousine, the C-Class, to the Philippines allows us to extend our expertise and enhance Mercedes-Benz Malaysia’s brand image regionally.
“As we set to expand our production volumes, we have undertaken technological upgrades at our plant to enhance our ability to cater to a more robust production portfolio and contribute towards an increased market share of Mercedes-Benz vehicles locally and regionally,” he added.
The exports to the Philippines are an extension of the organic growth that MBM has experienced in Malaysia.
The company has posted continuous growth and currently sells 13,000 cars per annum.
Out of this, 10,000 or close to 80 per cent are completely knocked down units assembled in Pekan.
With the plant upgrade, the capacity could definitely be increased to more than 10,000 and allow MBM the flexibility to set up for future business inside and outside the country, said Weidner.
He added that Mercedes Benz Malaysia had invested RM300 million to date in the country. It currently employs 1,300 workers on the 339,000sq metre production facility in Pekan.
The factory produces five models and 13 variants of Mercedes-Benz vehicles. These includes vehicles from the C, E and S-Class as well as GLC.