In a short eight months since beginning its local assembly (CKD) operations at Inokom’s assembly plant in Kulim, Kedah, Chery Malaysia has announced that its 10,000th locally-assembled vehicle has now rolled off the production line.
The milestone highlights the Malaysian market’s warm reception towards the Chinese brand, ever since its official re-entry into Malaysia in July last year with the launch of the Chery Omoda 5 and Tiggo 8 Pro, both of which are locally assembled at the plant.
In addition to the production milestone, the company has also added a new assembly line at the plant in response to “increasing demand and favourable market reception”. Aside from boosting assembly capacity, Chery Malaysia says that the plant expansion will also help uphold “the highest standards of quality control for its products and services”, while also allowing for the addition of new models to its CKD line-up, including the Tiggo 7 Pro, where production has now commenced ahead of its imminent launch.
The fully-electric Chery Omoda E5 will also soon join the CKD line-up in Malaysia, the company says in a statement.
RELATED: 2024 Chery Tiggo 7 Pro previewed in Malaysia, est. RM130k – now open for booking
“Our focus has always been on delivering safe, reliable products to our customers,” said Chery Auto Malaysia President, Leo Chen, at the celebration event, adding that he hopes that the partnership with its contract assembly partner, Inokom, will remain strong for the forseeable future.
“We are committed to maintaining strict quality assurance processes as we expand our operations here in Malaysia,” he added.
While not explicitly mentioned, the statements are undoubtedly a response to the recent viral incidents involving two separate Chery Omoda 5 vehicles, one concerning an alleged brake failure, while the other for a faulty rear axle that could malfunction during normal driving.
For the latter, the root cause has been traced back to an uncalibrated welding machine following an equipment upgrade, and the recall exercise for the issue – involving some 600 Chery Omoda 5 vehicles – is now nearing completion.
