The Contribution

Malaysia marked its commitment to be an automotive producing nation through the establishment of Proton in 1983, and blooming into a full-fledged car manufacturer, introducing its first in-house design in the year 2000 – the Waja. Meanwhile, Perodua established itself as Malaysia’s second national brand in 1993, and has recently launched its first model to have its upper body designed in-house, the Bezza.

In 2014, the government announced the third edition of the National Automotive Policy, called the NAP 2014. The NAP 2014 focuses on a holistic development of the domestic automotive industry, to ensure a sustainable industry growth and market expansion.

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Today, the Malaysian automotive industry has grown many fold, housing 27 vehicle manufacturers – producing passenger cars, commercial vehicles and two wheelers. It is an industry that contributes 4 percent, or RM40 billion to Malaysia’s Gross Domestic Product (GDP), a significant chunk of the economy that houses 641 parts and components manufacturers, more than 53,011 after sales businesses and provides jobs to a 736,632 strong workforce. Around 80% of the parts and components manufacturers within the domestic ecosystem are home grown, Malaysian-owned companies.

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The industry has created high technology value in these businesses and talented individuals, who now have the opportunity to participate in vehicle & component design, manufacturing, quality management, vehicle service & repairs as well as new sectors such as recycling and remanufacturing.

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While the vast industry creates direct opportunities mentioned above, the automotive sector spurs the development of supporting sectors, such as education, banking, finance, transportation and logistics.