Honda Malaysia isn’t just celebrating one momentous occasion but two milestones! It is a widely known fact that Honda is dominating the top spot when it comes to car sales, but this time they have another achievement to celebrate alongside the record breaking sales number as their factory has assembled their 600,000th vehicle as well.
Located in Alor Gajah, Malacca, Honda Malaysia started its Pegoh plant way back in 2003 and celebrated their first 100,000 unit milestone in 2007. It wasn’t until 2010 before the plant achieved their first 300,000 unit milestone. But with the opening of Line No.2 in 2014, Honda Malaysia experienced a surge in production numbers, thus easily achieving their 600,000th unit milestone in just three years compared to the 11 years they had taken to achieve their first milestone.
Currently, all Honda models on sale in the local market are assembled at the Pegoh plant, the Accord, Civic, and CR-V in Line No.1 while the Jazz, HR-V and BR-V share Line No.2, the City is assembled in both lines due to the large demand for the model. The plant has the capacity to produce 208 Honda units per day with the help of advanced technologies such as the automated Smart Welding Machine to produce a high rigidity body frame as well as the international standard painting facility comprising Spray Robots and Under Body Coating, which improves the quality of body paint and ensures precise coating thickness.
Did you know that all Honda cars are subjected to an intense vehicle quality check before it is unleashed onto the road? Every completed unit will be put to its paces in the custom-built 2.1km Test Course that imitates the Malaysian road conditions to make sure the quality and standard is top notch.
Honda has made sure that the Pegoh plant was built with flexible production capacity that can produce multiple models at the same time. This has helped Honda shorten the waiting period for customers tremendously when a surge in the bookings for certain models increase. All Honda models now require just one to two months waiting period and not more thanks to this set up.
Looks like Honda Malaysia is set to maintain their position as number one in the Non-National car market as Honda is proud to announce that they have sold a total of 100,000 units before the financial year of April 2016 to March 2017 has even ended. Not only is the Honda City the best-selling model in the market, Honda’s brand new model, the BR-V, has also outsold the National MPVs and placed itself firmly in the No.1 spot in the MPV and utility segment in February 2017.
The 600,000th vehicle that rolled out of the Pegoh Plant was the new City. The City is an important model for Honda Malaysia as it’s the largest sales contributor to the sales number. The City made itself comfortable in the top of the B-segment market for two years in a row, and with the introduction of the new facelift, the City looks like it will continue to dominate the market.
Honda Malaysia Managing Director and Chief Executive Officer, Mr. Katsuto Hayashi said, “We thank each and everyone for their continuous support. Honda Malaysia will continue to serve our Malaysian customers with quality products as well as excellent after sales service that exceed customers’ expectations.”
Reported for AF by Jerrica Leong
