CKD Nissan NV350 Urvan To Be Introduced in Malaysia Soon

Tan Chong Motor Holdings (TCMH) recently held a Q1 '18 performance briefing with key business analysts and fund managers. It is reported that a program to locally-assemble (CKD) the 14-seater Nissan NV350 Urvan is in the pipeline.

The current generation facelifted NV350 Urvan 2.5D is imported from Japan, retailing at a price of RM125,000 (with 6% GST). With the vehicle meeting MAI’s fuel efficiency target, the NV350 Urvan is certified as an EEV model and thus should benefit from MAI’s incentives for local-assembly which ultimately translate to lower retail price for consumers.

We suspect the CKD program of the NV350 Urvan will still be assembled at either Tan Chong Motor Assemblies (TCMA) plant in Segambut or Serendah. The recent announcement of TCMH planning a new automotive hub in Bagan Datuk, Perak that caters to commercial vehicles might tie-in with this NV350 Urvan model, but this new plant is designed for assembly of heavy commercial vehicles such as buses and trucks, and will only commence operations in 2021.

TCMA currently assembles the smaller NV200 1.6 panel van at their Serendah plant, while the previous generation Urvan 3.0D (E25) was assembled in Segambut plant until early 2015. 

The company also mentioned that it will only reveal more details of this Bagan Datuk plant in the second half of the year.