Geely has set up shop in Thailand and will be entering Australia and New Zealand next year – all right-hand-drive (RHD) markets – but the carmaker remains committed to Malaysia as its regional production and R&D hub.
“Geely remains dedicated to its initial pledge of making AHTV the regional production and R&D hub for the ASEAN markets,” Ash Sutcliffe, PR director of the Geely Holding Group told paultan.org in response to questions on the company’s commitment to Proton and Malaysia.
Automotive Hi-Tech Valley (AHTV) was announced in April 2022 as an international automotive hub for NEVs (new energy vehicles, China’s term for electrified vehicles), spearheaded by Geely. AHTV is in the Tanjung Malim area, which is also the home of Proton.
“Geely will enter and establish dealer networks in Proton’s non-existent markets, starting with NEV products to build brand reputation, which will be complementary to Proton’s existing products,” Sutcliffe added. This means that both Proton and Geely brands will not enter the same markets – while Proton was previously present in Thailand and Australia, the Malaysian brand has since ceased operations in those markets.
“Geely will leverage its resources in these markets, either to assist Proton’s future entry or to export products from Malaysia using AHTV as a production hub, maximizing synergies with Proton and our partner DRB-Hicom,” Geely’s PR chief said. Full context here.
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