Volvo Car Malaysia has officially opened its regional product training centre and new head office in Petaling Jaya
Volvo Car Malaysia started its 2020 on a high note by officially launching its regional product training centre and head office in Symphony Square, Section 13 Petaling Jaya. Focusing on sustainability and low energy consumption as well as going paperless throughout its operations, the new office space will annually deliver up to 7,500 man-days of training staff and dealers across the Asia Pacific region on both technical and non-technical areas.
Present at the launch was Mr. Akhtar Sulaiman, Marketing & PR Director of Volvo Car Malaysia, Mr. Richard Snijders, Vice President of Volvo Car Group, YB Dato’ Lokman Hakim Ali, Secretary-General of the Ministry of International Trade and Industry (MITI) and HE Mr. Dag Juhlin-Dannfelt, Swedish Ambassador to Malaysia.
Mr. Nalin Jain, Managing Director of Volvo Car Malaysia said in the press release,
“Malaysia is considered the ideal hub as it offers good infrastructure and a strong team of local talent to run regional functions. This training center and other shared services such as Finance Cluster, Technical Hub, and Procurement which operate here are expected to generate export service revenue of over RM100 million in the next 5-7 years,”
During his speech, YB Dato’ Lokman Hakim Ali said that the new iteration of the National Automotive Policy (NAP 2020) is a holistic policy which covers the complexity of connected mobility and sustainability. The new NAP will be underpinned by three new elements namely Next Generation Vehicle (NXGV), Mobility as a Service (MaaS) and Industrial Revolution 4.0. The new NAP will be launched by the Prime Minister very soon.
In 2019, Volvo has sold 705,452 cars around the world and contributing to that figure Volvo Car Malaysia had sold 1,883 units and achieved its highest ever year-on-year growth retail at 36.1% compared to 2018.
Other Volvo Car Malaysia accomplishments of 2019 include:
- Strong market share in Plug-in Hybrid Electric Vehicle (‘PHEV’)
- Launched 3 new cars: XC40 T5 CKD, S60 T8, and XC90 Facelift
- Launched 5 new dealerships: Setia Alam (Motion Beyond), Johor Bahru (Pekin Auto), Mutiara Damansara (Ingress Swede Automobile), Ipoh (iRoll Ipoh), and Ara Damansara (Sime Darby Swedish Auto)
- One of the first two markets to have a 100% Volvo Retail Experience dealership in APAC
Keeping things rolling farward in 2020, Volvo Car Malaysia announced that the CKD Volvo S60 T8 and the S90 refresh will be making their debut this year, and will open a new dealership in Kota Kinabalu “very soon”. Meanwhile, new PHEV models from 1 January 2020 will come with an 8-year PHEV battery warranty.
Being the most forward-thinking car company with human centricity as part of its core value, Volvo is seeking to reduce its impact on the environment across the board and protecting the planet.
Mr. Richard Snijders, Vice President of Volvo Car Group said that sustainability will be the theme for the company this year onwards in its #VolvoRecharged initiative. The company aims to cut carbon emissions down 40% per car by 2025 and ultimately become carbon neutral by 2040. However, the company admits that launching a pure battery electric vehicle (BEV) model every year in the next five years won’t be enough.
The tacking of carbon emissions includes its manufacturing network, supply chain and through its approach of recycling and reuse of materials. By 2025, at least 25% in every new Volvo car will consist of recycled plastics.
Mr Snijders said,
“We take sustainability very seriously at Volvo, with one of the most ambitious climate plans in the car industry. I’m proud that the culture is just as strong here in Malaysia. For example, our showrooms now only utilize digital price stands, or what we call the Digital Silent Salesmen. We have stopped printing brochures and are moving towards reducing waste – both internally and externally. Slowly but surely, Volvo will be able steer away from any single-use products and be a driving force for sustainable living within the automotive industry and beyond,”
Volvo Car Malaysia is offering buyers of the Volvo XC40 T5 R-Design a complimentary 5-year VSA 5+ service package. Buyers of the XC90 T5 Momentum and S90 T5 Momentum will be entitled to an ang pow worth RM23,888 on top of the VSA 5+ package. Selected PHEV models will also come with a complimentary Recharge Package worth RM10,000 as well as the VSA 5+ package. This offer is valid until 29 February 2020.
Breena Au
