Stellantis Takes Full Ownership Of Naza’s Gurun Plant, Makes It ASEAN Hub

Automaker Stellantis has secured full ownership of Naza Automotive Manufacturing Sdn Bhd and its manufacturing plant in Gurun, Kedah.

The completed acquisition marks a significant milestone for Stellantis in Southeast Asia, with plans to invest and massively expand its footprint to a robust localisation strategy.

Stellantis senior vice-president Asean and general distributors Christophe Musy said that Stellantis is committed to expanding its presence in ASEAN and taking full ownership and accountability of the plant in Gurun. 

This is a significant step for the automaker to strengthen its operations, production outputs and workforce in the region.

“We have an ambitious growth strategy that will enable us to build on the existing production outputs in Gurun, as well as extend the breadth of brands and models within the Stellantis portfolio built in ASEAN for ASEAN. This is an exciting proposition.”

Stellantis recently launched the all-new Peugeot 3008 and 5008 that have been their firsts to be manufactured in Gurun.

In addition, the long-awaited Peugeot 2008 will also commence production this month in Gurun.

According to Musy, their main focus is to achieve world-class manufacturing in Gurun and build high-quality, Malaysian-produced vehicles for Southeast Asia. 

The Stellantis manufacturing plant in Gurun has also achieved pre-pandemic production rates since it restarted operations.

“Despite the pandemic, we see increased customer demand for Peugeot in the region. We are working closely with our partners to increase plant capacity by almost 40% to meet demand,” said Musy.

Previously operating as a joint venture with Naza Corp, Stellantis obtained full ownership of the Gurun manufacturing plant on Oct 28, with over 170 employees who have returned to work. Stellantis is currently working with over 50 local suppliers as production increases for the last quarter of 2021.