The Malaysian unit of General Motors which is the General Motors Asia Pacific LLC, which signed in August a memorandum of understanding with DRB-HICOM Bhd to form HICOM-Chevrolet Sdn Bhd, may finally assemble Chevrolet Models in Malaysia.

According to HICOM-Chevrolet managing director-designate Yukontorn Wisadkosin, the company is still considering this and that there is no final decision yet.

Wisadkosin says, “Chevrolet models will continue to be assembled in Thailand and GM will rely on the Asean Free Trade Area (Afta), which under the Common Effective Preferential Tariff will see import duties reduced to between zero and 5% from Jan 1 for vehicles assembled in Asean.” She also added that the turning around of the Chevrolet brand in the country is part of GM’s global strategy in identifying 11 emerging markets, of which three are in South-East Asia, including Malaysia, acknowledging the fact that Chevrolet has faced a series of problems in sales due to certain factors like a shortage in spare parts supply, quality perception and tough operating environment.

She also further emphasized that the groundwork for the turnaround is already being prepared. This groundwork includes strengthening the dealers’ network, ensuring the smooth supply of spare parts and reinforcing after-sales service through a sales, service and spare parts center. With this turnaround, the company will hopefully schedule the launch of the Chevrolet Captiva before the year ends.

 “Apart from fuel economy, the Captiva is functional and stylish, its seven-seat capacity will allow us to play up against our competitors, which in Malaysia would be the Honda CRV, and the pricing range would be competitive against it. Aside from the Captiva, three or four other models would be launched in the next six months in the compact-car range. What we’ll be offering will be something in the range of the Honda City or Toyota Vios,” said Wisadkosin.

Meanwhile, General Motors Asia Pacific president Stephen K. Carlisle stated the even though there have been problems of GM in Malaysia, all the economic fundamentals are present in this country. “If you want to have a presence in South-East Asia, you have to be here. And while there is a unique set of difficulties operating here, we’ve reinforced some areas that we know are important.”

Carlisle also said that GM is hopeful that it will reach sales of at least 5, 500 units in the long run.