According to Andreas Prinz, the Managing Director of the group, various options are being considered which, apart from the location of the site would also include who their local partners will be. Once that is done, then the setting up of the plant will take about 15 to 18 months where it will roll out Volkswagen cars for both the local and regional market. He also reported that in 2009, the Asia market contributed to sales of 1.5 million units. Currently, China is sells the most VWs in the region where it remains as the country’s second best selling brand.
So far, no confirmation on which model will be assembled at the plant but many are expecting it to roll out the Beetle and the Golf GTi which are their 2 best selling models. Prinz announced that for last year, they have sold 900 units and plans are in place to double that figure for the year 2010 with the addition of new models by the middle of the year. 3 more models are expected to be introduced which are the Golf 1.4CC, Polo 1.2CC and the widely anticipated Scirocco 1.4CC to add on to their 10 models already available in Malaysia.
To increase their network in Malaysia, a new Volkswagen Center was recently launched by its official dealer F.A Wagen Sdn Bhd, the VW arm of Federal Auto Holdings Berhad. According to Cheng Seng Fook, the Managing Director of Federal Auto, setting up of the new center cost RM1.2 million and they are planning to invest another RM10 million to set up 2 more branches in the next 12 months which includes a 6 storey flagship center in Glenmarie which is expected to be launched in September while a new 3S branch is set to be opened next year in Johor Bahru which will cost RM3.5million. They recently took over the Jalan 222 dealership center in November which is the first outlet in the county to be totally compliant with the new corporate identity of VW.
