China’s auto-maker Geely to turn township into Malaysia’s Detroit

According to an article by the Malaysian state agency, Bernama, for which everything is going well in the country, the Chinese auto-maker Zhejiang Geely Holdings Group is set to turn sleepy township of Tanjung Malim into Malaysia’s Detroit.

Tanjung Malim is the home of the national car maker Proton.

Bernama said thousands of new jobs are expected to be created with the economic spillover effects transforming the quiet Perak town and beyond as Geely, backed by its world class research and development and design centres, is targeting to produce 500,000 cars for the Southeast Asian markets alone by 2020.

Malaysia will by then become the right-hand drive production hub for Geely in the ASEAN region, thus allowing Tanjung Malim to run its maximum capacity, including the assembly of Volvo cars, said the agency.

Some 2.1 million cars were sold in ASEAN countries in 2016, up 85 per cent from 2006.

When Proton set up its plant here in 2000, it led to the creation of Proton City and the new 320-hectare campus of Universiti Perguruan Sultan Idris, the university which produces graduate teachers.

Proton is the biggest employer in Tanjung Malim with over 2,000 jobs, half of them given to locals with tremendous impact on the town’s economy.

Bernama usually reports on the positive news in Malaysia.