KUALA LUMPUR: Geely chairman Li Shufu said Malaysia's automotive supply chain costs 30 per cent higher than China and 10 per cent higher than Thailand, due to a reliance on overseas imports for supply of parts.
Paultan reported that Li made the comments in an interview on China's state-owned CCTV programme "Dialogue," which was picked up by Chinese tech website CNMO.
Li said that Malaysia's automotive parts supply still relies heavily on overseas imports, and that the relatively small size of the local automotive market meant it was difficult to get enough scale to keep costs down.
He added that having realised the seriousness of the matter, one of Geely's current priorities is to help improve the competitiveness of the country's automotive industry's supply chain.
Li said Geely will promote the localisation of Malaysia's auto parts industry by introducing advanced global auto parts companies into the market and strengthening cooperation with local suppliers.