Volvo Car Malaysia (VCM) held a special product presentation regarding the recently revealed 2015 Volvo XC90 earlier today, during which managing director Keith Schafer announced that the long-awaited second-generation seven-seater SUV is slated to arrive on Malaysian shores in August 2015.
The company is aiming to bring in the new XC90 as a fully-imported model - production in Sweden is expected to begin in February - before starting local assembly. While VCM currently assembles the outgoing car at its Shah Alam plant, adapting the factory to build vehicles based on Volvo's new and complex Scalable Product Architecture (on which the new XC90 is based) is expected to take some time, with the first CKD models expected only in 2016.
VCM is also looking to provide high levels of equipment for local models, and all three 2.0 litre four-cylinder Drive-E petrol powertrains are being considered. These are the 254 hp, 350 Nm turbocharged T5, the 320 hp, 400 Nm supercharged and turbocharged T6 as well as the range-topping "Twin Engine" T8 supercharged and turbocharged plug-in hybrid that produces a combined output of 400 hp and 640 Nm.
The hybrid is an interesting proposition, as there are currently duty exemptions for hybrids that are locally assembled. This policy will expire at the end of 2015, however, which is some time before CKD production of the new XC90 is set to begin. Perhaps the Energy Efficient Vehicle (EEV) incentives indicated in the 2014 National Automotive Policy (NAP) will help VCM price a CKD T8 hybrid competitively.
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