Naza to produce Peugeot

9th October, 2009
 
PARIS: Naza Automotive Manufacturing Sdn Bhd will produce a new entry level Peugeot car codenamed “T33”, for the Malaysian and export markets at its manufacturing facility in Gurun next year.
This follows the signing of a memorandum of understanding (MoU) betwen Naza Automotive Manufacturing and France-based Peugeot here on Wednesday.
The event was witnessed by Prime Minister Datuk Seri Najib Tun Razak, who was here on a four-day official visit to France, which ended on Wednesay.
Najib also witnessed another MoU signing ceremony between the Halal Industry Development Corporation (HDC) and French firm Benefiq Pte Ptd, to establish a strategic partnership to facilitate bilateral opportunities between Malaysia and France in trade, supply chain management as well as research and development areas.
The joint group executive chairman of Naza Automotive Manufacturing, SM Nasarudin SM Nasimuddin said, Malaysia would be the only country to produce the right-hand drive T33 model.
The Gurun plant has the capacity to produce 55,000 units of vehicles annually.
He said the T33 would be launched in Malaysia in the third quarter of next year and production of the model would begin a month or two before that.
SM Nasarudin said the company was looking at a volume of 6,000 units of the T33 in the first year, for the domestic market.
“The domestic market is still a strong enough to sustain this investment,” he told Malaysian journalists after the signing ceremony.
He also said while the price had yet to be finalised, it would be competitively appealing to Malaysians, wanting to own a continental car.
SM Nasarudin also disclosed that Naza was currently in talks with Peugeot to develop a second model in Malaysia, six month after the launch of the T33.
Meanwhile, the collabaration between the HDC and Benefiq would provide Malaysian companies interested in the agri-food business, an opportunity to further develop their expertise in the areas of research and development along with modern agriculture technology.
The HDC chief executive officer Datuk Seri Jamil Bidin said by collaborating with Benefiq,the organisation aimed to provide a platform for companies in Malaysia with an opportunity to penetrate the halal market in Europe via Brittany in France, as a gateway.
Benefiq is actively involved in the development of the agri-food business and practices the concept of the “traceability and sustainability of agri-food eco system”.

Source: Sabah Times

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