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LAST week there was a lot of social media chatter about Porsche AG setting up an assembly facility in Malaysia. It is rumoured to be at the Inokom facility in Kulim Kedah. The Inokom facility is owned by Sime Darby Group, who are also the brand guardians for Porsche in Malaysia.
To date, there has been no official announcement from Sime Darby Motors or Porsche AG. When we reached out to both companies there was no comment. Meanwhile, it does make sense for Porsche AG to look at expanding its reach in the biggest automotive region, Asean, with local assembly.
Mercedes-Benz and BMW have seen success in the region with local assembly and Volvo is growing their brand in the region as well. All three brands have electrified models coming into the region in stages. Covid-19 has accelerated the need to have electric vehicles to address climate change.
Which Porsche model?
Sime Darby Auto Performance (SDAP) launched the Porsche all-electric car, Taycan in September last year and its sales response has been overwhelming. Within a month, more than 70 bookings for Taycan were received and it has doubled at press time. Then last month, Porsche AG released a base model Taycan with rear-wheel drive. Then just days later SDAP announced that this entry model Taycan will be on sale in Malaysia for about RM584k.
With the new Taycan, Porsche is launching the fourth variant of its first all-electric sports saloon. The new model lines up alongside the Taycan Turbo S, Taycan Turbo and Taycan 4S. It features rear-wheel drive and is available with two battery sizes.
With the standard Performance Battery, the new entry-level model delivers up to 408 PS in overboost mode with Launch Control; this increases to an output of up to 476 PS with the optional Performance Battery Plus. Nominal power is 326 PS or 380 PS, respectively.
As the youngest member of the model family, the Porsche Taycan includes, right from the start, the new features introduced in the other versions at the model-year changeover.
The competition
With the possibility of this entry-level Taycan being locally assembled in Inokom, SDAP will be able to price it to compete directly with electric vehicles coming from BMW, Mercedes-Benz and Volvo.
Audi in Malaysia seems to be too laid back to make an impression right now even though they have their best seller electric vehicle in Europe, the Audi e-tron. Volkswagen is also leading the EV charge in Europe with its ID.4 EV. Yet, they seem to have little interest in Asean and this will give Porsche an easy lead with premium car buyers looking to have a premium EV in their garage. – The Vibes, February 10, 2021
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