Toyota plans to build a third assembly plant in Malaysia, according to a Nikkei report. The new plant will be built by UMW Toyota Motor, a joint venture (JV) between Toyota Tsusho and UMW Holdings, with an investment of JPY30 billion (USD276 million). The plant is expected to become operational in 2018, with an initial capacity of 50,000 vehicles per annum, rising to 100,000.
Significance: In April 2015, Toyota ended its three-year freeze on a new manufacturing capacity with a total investment of nearly USD1.5 billion in Mexico and China. The new plants are expected to become operational in China in 2017 and in Mexico in 2019. Toyota currently operates two assembly plants in Malaysia (Sendayan Tech Valley, Shah Alam), assembling Hino-branded Dutro, and Camry, Fortuner, Hiace, Hilux, Innova, and Vios under the Toyota badge, according to IHS Automotive data. In 2015, Toyota assembled nearly 82,851 vehicles in the country. The new plant would supplement the automaker's existing assembling capacity in Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) region and expand the automaker's assembly footprint in the region to 16 plants. Toyota also plans to invest PHP9 billion (USD193.2 million) over a six-year period in Philippines to produce the next-generation Vios model .
