KULIM, Sept 28 — Mazda Malaysia Sdn Bhd celebrated the roll-out of the very first unit of the all-new Mazda CX-5 at the Mazda Plant which is situated inside of the Inokom Assembly plant here in Kulim.
Mazda sees Malaysia as an important production base in the Asean region, and established Mazda Malaysia in 2012 as a joint venture production and sales company with Bermaz Motor. The assembly of Mazda vehicles in Malaysia is done in collaboration with Inokom Corporation. Mazda vehicles are assembled in a dedicated section of the plant, managed by Mazda Malaysia, to ensure that the quality of vehicles is on par with that of Mazda vehicles manufactured in Japan.
Investments in the Mazda Kulim plant include RM87 million to bring Mazda’s latest premium paint process to Malaysia and to revamp the body line. These measures align new technologies at the plant with those at Ujina and Hofu, Mazda’s ‘parent factories’ in Western Japan, and will further enhance production quality. This has enabled the production of models in colours like Soul Red Crystal and Machine Gray, colours that represent the Mazda brand and are highly sought after all over the world. Until now, the CX-5 made in Malaysia has been sold in Malaysia and Thailand.
Moving forward, the company plans to ship the model, in both right-hand drive and left-hand drive configurations to the Philippines, Indonesia, Cambodia and Myanmar as well. Current production capacity at the plane in Kulim is 20,000 units per annum.
Speaking at the rollout ceremony, Masatoshi Maruyama, Managing Executive Officer in charge of Global Production and Business Logistics at Mazda Corporation Japan said, “We see Malaysia as an important production base in the Asean region, and with the aim of establishing a sturdy production system, we’ve worked closely with our business partners to develop manufacturing of Mazda cars here.”
Hiroshi Inoue, Mazda’s Managing Executive Officer in charge of Asean business said, “ Customers in Asean markets are constantly raising the bar for Mazda’s products, technologies and quality standards. We see it as our mission to offer value that exceeds their expectations. And the Malaysia-made all-new CX-5, which is imbued with Mazda’s passion for car-making, is just the model to do that. Moving forward, we will continue working closely with our business partners to contribute to the development of the automotive industry in Malaysia and aim to enrich people’s lives with cars that provide driving pleasure.”
The all-new CX-5 features GVC (G-Vectoring Control), the latest update to the Mazda SKYACTIV technologies — GVC retards the throttle slightly during cornering, resulting in a more stable and comfortable ride for driver and passengers alike.
The CX-5 comes in an all-new body, with a bold new front mask and grille, and will be available in 2.0 litre gasoline and 2.5 litre gasoline variants; these variants shall be available only in 2WD. In addition, there will also be two diesel variants which will be using the powerful Mazda 2.2 litre SKYACTIV-D engines. The diesel units will be available in both 2WD and AWD.
The retail prices are as follows:
Mazda CX-5 2.0 GL SKYACTIV-G, 2WD : RM134,605.50
Mazda CX-5 2.0 GL SKYACTIV-G, 2WD : RM148,605.50
Mazda CX-5 2.5 GLS SKYACTIV-G, 2WD : RM160,996.70
Mazda CX-5 2.2 GLS SKYACTIV-D, 2WD : RM164,579.10
Mazda CX-5 2.2 GLS SKYACTIV-D, AWD : RM175,179.10
