Not Indonesia, Audi Intends To Collide With Vehicle Production In Malaysia

Audi SQ8 e-tron (source: Audi AG)

JAKARTA - PHS Automotive Malaysia, as the Audi car distributor in Malaysia, has plans to facilitate the expansion of the market in Southeast Asia by considering producing vehicles locally (CKD) which previously only offered imported models (CBU).

Denyu Bostandzhiev, as Managing Director of PHSAM, said that his party was thinking about localizing Audi's car production in order to be able to offer competitive prices compared to CBU.

"Compared to CBU, this helps us reach our customers in terms of prices and needs, and can provide good offers for our customers," he said as quoted by Paultan, Saturday, January 20.

Although the certainty of time and model to be assembled locally has not been disclosed, it is likely that the assembly will take place in Pekan, Pahang, Malaysia, a Volkswagen brand-owned factory that assembles various models, such as Golf R and Golf GTI.

It is possible that the next model to join the CKD ranks is Touareg facelift, because the SUV was seen last year with a trading plate registered on Pahang.

In the Malaysian market, Touareg will be present in the sporty R-Line variant, powered by a 3.0 liter TSI V6 gasoline engine. This machine is capable of generating a power of 340 PS and a torque of 450 Nm, combined with an automatic transmission of eight accelerations and a driving system for all 4Motion permanent wheels.

Meanwhile, from the Audi brand, recently the four-ring logo brand presented two models of electric SUVs in neighboring countries, namely SQ8 e-tron and SQ8 Sportback e-tron.

These two vehicles highlight the dual-motor configuration on the back doubles, with each unit capable of generating a power of 138 kW (188 PS) and a torque of 618 Nm. Single-front double-motor added 157 kW (214 PS) output and 355 Nm torque, creating a total system output of 370 kW and a torque of 973 Nm, powered by an 114 kWh-capacity battery.

This SUV is priced from 519,990 to 529,990 ringgit or around Rp1.72 billion to Rp1.75 billion.