Proton today began work on a further addition to their Tanjung Malim plant with an official ground breaking ceremony. The expansion will house a new stamping facility.
With an investment of RM200 million, this new facility is part of Proton’s plan to make Tanjung Malim a world-class manufacturing plant. The new “Superlarge” press machine that stamps large pieces of steel body panels, is necessary to enhance the automaker’s stamping abilities.
More significantly, it is part of Proton’s overarching plan to increase levels of localisation on both current and future models. The facility will also be equipped with state-of-the-art tools as well as systems.
The expansion project is a further commitment of the company that has already spent RM1.2 billion previously for the manufacturing of the Geely-based models, with the investment part of its growth strategy for the manufacturing of more models. The new stamping facility is expected to commence production from the third quarter of 2022.
“While we are happy with our progress so far, Proton must continue to look to the future”, said Dr. Li Chunrong, CEO of Proton.
“This new addition is part of our strategy to ensure that we can grow continuously as well as increase our model footprint when we have to. This means having the ability to build more variants but more importantly to be able to build them to the highest standards as well as to incorporate new technology”, he added.
“We are very clear about direction and growth for Proton. While Malaysia will always be our primary market, we must be able to compete beyond our shores. This facility is one small part of that journey. It is especially important for us because it means we can do far more localisation going forward. This will have a spill-over effect which will see us engaging with more vendors and further growing the local automotive ecosystem”, said Li.
The Proton Tanjung Malim plant currently produces the X70, the X50 as well as the Iriz and Persona models. The new-generation plant also has the capability to stamp high tensile steel that adds to the strength and rigidity of the vehicle’s bodyshell, without the penalty of increase in weight.
