UMW Holdings Bhd will launch its latest Toyota Avanza model in October. The 6 seater 1.0 and 1.3 litre multi-purpose vehicle (MPV) will be launched at a very competitive price of below RM60,000, which is lower than the initial indicative price of close to RM70,000.
Toyota Avanza will be an Asean car with more than 40% of its content sourced from Asean countries. The car will be produced by Perodua (38%-owned by UMW) at its plant in Rawang for UMW. The model is targeted at younger drivers and we expect the Avanza to give the Perodua Kembara and Hyundai Atos a run for their money. We expect consumers to respond well to the new Avanza given its attractive pricing and Toyota’s strong branding. In view of the increased competition in the auto industry, UMW will step up its launches of new models. Apart from the Toyota Vios which was launched in 2003 and the Toyota Avanza soon, UMW will be launching a new sports utility vehicle (SUV) in mid-2005.
With the introduction of the new SUV model in 2005, Toyota will have a complete range of vehicles in Malaysia, which includes passenger cars, SUVs and MPVs. This is a vast improvement from Toyota’s previous models that had included only the Toyota Camry and Corolla passenger cars.
Apart from the increased product range, UMW has also recently re-introduced completely built-up (CBU) Toyota models. The latest CBU project is the face-lifted Toyota RAV4. UMW expects to sell about 100 units of the RAV4 per month with at a price tag of between RM179,000-RM186,000. UMW also plans to bring in Toyota Wish and Previa models from Thailand and Japan respectively in 2005. Although the CBU business is not a volume game, we believe that it would boost UMW’s earnings over the longer-term, as the margins are higher.
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