Are Peugeot products going to be sourced outside of Europe? That may be the case according to this Reuters report.

In it, the news agency reports that Peugeot’s parent company, PSA signed a deal with Malaysia’s Naza Corporation to assemble Peugeot and Citroen vehicles not just for Malaysia’s domestic market consumption, but for other ASEAN markets as well.

The Malaysian plant, located in Gurun, Kedah will be majority-owned by PSA (56 percent) and will have the annual capacity of 50,000 vehicles; and out of this volume, 20,000 will be destined for export within the next three years.

Before PSA’s investment in 2018, the Naza plant has been producing primarily right-hand drive vehicles for markets such as Thailand, Indonesia, Brunei, and Sri Lanka. However, the plant is now understood to have increased its flexibility to accommodate left-hand drive vehicles thanks to a USD 9.75 million investment in robotics.

Malaysia will also serve as Peugeot’s regional office as well as its training and aftersales center.

Given that the Reuters report is dated last year, this could mean a shift in sourcing for Peugeot’s Philippine distributor, Eurobrands Distributor, Inc. (EDI) before the end of the year. This will likely begin with the 3008 SUV which has been spied being tested in Malaysia in left-hand drive guise.

If this news is true, the 3008 SUV could be made more affordable. In Malaysia, the 3008 is available with a 1.6-liter turbocharged petrol engine making 167 horsepower and 240 Nm of torque. In its top-trim Allure spec, it is priced at RM 155,088 (~ P 1.92 million) which is close to the Mazda CX-5 Diesel at RM 165,939 (~ P 2.055 million).

EDI has refused to comment on the speculation, but added: “There will be some exciting news in the coming months for the Peugeot brand.”

Source: Reuters, PaulTan.org