DRB-Hicom Commercial Vehicles allocates RM10m for Pekan plant

Commercial Vehicles Sdn Bhd (DHCV), the official distributor of Tata Motors commercial vehicles in Malaysia, has allocated RM10 million to set up a local assembly plant in Pekan, Pahang.

“We’ve received the approval from Tata Motors and are now in the process of creating a production network. We believe production will begin in the third quarter this year,” said DRB-Hicom Bhd chief executive officer of automotive distribution, defence and manufacturing and engineering Datuk Abdul Harith Abdullah after the launching ceremony of the Tata Super Ace and the Ul- tra range of trucks.

The mini and light trucks will join the Xenon pick-up trucks and the Prima prime movers to be locallyassembled in Pekan, later this year.

“The plan for local-assembly is important as we believe that the light commercial vehicle market will see increased growth in the years to come,” said Harith.

The Super Ace is a one-tonne mini truck that is powered by a 1.4-litre turbodiesel engine mated to a five-speed manual transmission. It produces 70hp at 4,500rpm and 135 Nm of torque at 2,500rpm.

It can be customised for small-scale business operations, such as transportation of construction items, food grains, fruits, fast-moving consumer goods and white goods, as well as food truck, icecream truck or even a mobile store.

As for the Ultra 814 and Ultra 1014, both models comes with a 3.0-litre turbodiesel engine paired to a six-speed manual transmission. Power output is 140hp at 2,600rpm and 390 Nm of torque from 1,400 to 2,000rpm. The Ultra 814 has a 4.5 tonne of payload, while the Ultra 1014 is 5.5 tonnes.

The Super Ace is priced at RM46,990, while the eight-tonne Ultra 814 is retailed at RM86,990.

Meanwhile, the 10-tonne Ultra 1014 carries a price tag of RM97,990. All prices are excluding Goods and Services Tax and on-the-road cost. All models can be customised with different body options to suit customers needs.