Local assembly trail for X70 begins

KUALA LUMPUR: The local assembly trails of the Proton X70 has begun, says Proton officials. The said announcement was made by the Malaysian-born automaker during the visit of Miao Wei, China’s minister of industry and information technology, Li Shufu, Zhejiang Geely Holding chairman, along with company’s senior executive. The automaker will be using the new assembly plant in Tanjung Malim that cost RM 1.2 billion to build the CKD version of the SUV in the second half of 2019.

It is to be noted that no actual production has been performed yet as the assembly and paint line are yet to be completed. According to the officials, the company has started working on semi-automated test runs, in order to give its production workers and engineers an experience of car assembly.

Datuk Seri Syed Albar, Proton Chairman on CKD version of the X70 said, “Proton aims to start the production of the X70 in Tanjung Malim in the second half of this year, so we are working hard to ensure we hit the target. It will be a remarkable achievement as in less than two years since the signing of the agreement between DRB-Hicom and Geely, we have reached a significant milestone in our joint effort to return Proton to its position of prominence.”

The car you see in the image above that’s surrounded by Proton’s top official, engineers, and production workers look like the fully-imported version of the SUV. And is not a representation of the CKD unit. As per Proton, the CKD unit would hold some surprising differentiations over the current CBU units of the X70. Sounds intriguing, however, will have to wait a little longer to find out. So, stay tuned.