EP Manufacturing Berhad (EPMB) has added another feather to its car assembly cap with the MG S5 EV, the first model from the SAIC brand to be locally assembled in Malaysia. The CKD electric SUV rolled off the line at EPMB’s Plant 2 in Pegoh, Melaka yesterday morning. EPMB’s Pegoh facility has become a CKD hub for Chinese brands. Its biggest customer is GWM, and we saw plenty of Haval H6 SUVs and GWM Wey G9 MPVs at the plant yesterday. In December 2025, Xpeng announced EPMB as its CKD partner, with the G6, X9 and X9 PowerX REEV set to be assembled in Melaka. Production is scheduled to start at the end of this month. During our visit to the plant yesterday for the MG S5’s line-off ceremony, we saw finished units of the BAIC X55 and BJ40 Plus SUVs that were previewed back in May 2024. We’ve not heard from the Beijing-based state-owned carmaker since then, although deliveries were supposed to start later that year. EPMB has a 10-year CKD deal with BAIC, although the carmaker has gone quiet after a May 2024 preview Late last year, when announcing the launch of Phase 2 of its Melaka factory, EPMB said that pilot production for the BAIC X55 and BJ40 was completed in November 2025, with full production slated to begin in January 2026. The Bursa-listed company said that its contract assembly deal with BAIC is a 10-year one. We’ll see if the brand resurfaces – more on BAIC in Malaysia here. Back to SAIC. Production of the S5 EV is expected to be between 120 and 180 units per month, with an estimated annual output of around 1,500 to 2,000 units this year. The carmaker is planning exports from Melaka to other ASEAN markets and is even considering left-hand-drive markets. “Today represents the maturing of the investments that we have carefully built over the past few years. From establishing our assembly operations, we have now progressed to producing multiple vehicle models locally, and the introduction of the MG S5 marks another important step forward for our operations,” said Hamidon Abdullah, executive chairman of EPMB. “Currently, the facility is planned to produce approximately 1,200 vehicles per month, with output expected to increase gradually as production programmes expand. We aim to fully utilise the installed capacity of the facility and eventually reach 2,500 vehicles per month, or approximately 30,000 vehicles annually. EPMB is seeking to be part of SAIC Motor’s broader regional manufacturing network and Hamidon points out that both parties successfully completed the necessary preparations for CKD assembly in less than five months since the agreement was signed in October 2025. Compare prices between different insurer providers to save the most on your car insurance renewal compared to other competing services. Many payment method supported and you can pay with instalment using Atome, Grab PayLater or Shopee SPayLater.
