TD2000 Heads for Japan
Though it is a small company with a single model – the TD2000 – TD Cars (Malaysia) Sdn Bhd has achieved something which other Malaysian automakers have not been able to do: to export its cars to Japan. Given the fact that Japan is home to leading automakers such as Toyota, Nissan and Honda and has a highly competitive domestic market, any foreign make going in faces a tough time. But the TD2000 will soon be in showrooms in Japan and that is certainly an achievement to be proud of.
Of course, the TD2000 is no ordinary car; it is a sportscar with styling that mimics those British sportscars of the 1950s, specifically the MGs. Originally conceived in Australia in the mid-1980s, the design and rights were acquired by a group of Malaysian investors (with a couple of Australian partners) in the late 1990s and production of the car was transferred to Malaysia. ACE, the EON subsidiary which has been converting Protons for over 10 years, was commissioned to build the cars at its plant in the Glenmarie estate in Shah Alam, Selangor.
From the start, TD Cars (Malaysia) had exports as an integral part of its business plan. While there will be demand locally, the greater portion of demand is expected to come from other countries and great effort was put into ensuring that the car would meet regulations in different countries.
“The most important thing it has is approval under the Australian Design Rules (ADRs). These rules are tough and cover emissions and safety and are applicable to every new car sold in Australia. They are comparable to the standards in most countries of the world and with the certification, our TD2000 can be more readily homologated – that means its technical specifications are examined and confirmed to meet the country’s regulations – in the countries we export to,” Edward Teo, Managing Director of TD Cars (Malaysia) Sdn Bhd, told AUTOWORLD.COM.MY
However, having ADR certification doesn’t mean automatic homologation, Mr Teo added. “We still have to go through the process of application and this can take time. Fortunately, the business associates we have in our potential export markets have the experience to handle such matters and have helped us gain entry into their markets,” he said.
In Japan, the TD2000 will be sold by AI Auto Co Ltd, an importer and distributor of luxury cars as well as used Japanese cars for 15 years. Its president, Hiroski Suga, who was in Malaysia to sign the exclusive distributorship agreement, said that the company plans to sell 15 units within the next 12 months, increasing to 70 units annually after three years.
“We have 37 dealers throughout Japan and we are optimistic that the TD2000 will be well received. The price in Japan will be around 4.8 million yen (about RM140,000),” he said, adding that he first saw the TD2000 during the Japan GT Race in Sepang in 2001. He was impressed by its styling and performance and saw it as having strong potential in Japan.
Mr Suga said that the first TD2000 will be shipped to Japan this Sunday and the first buyer is Nobuhide Tachi, a former racing driver who owns TOMs, a tuning firm which specialises in making Toyotas hotter cars. Mr Tachi is probably very happy to buy this Malaysian-made sportscar because he has fond memories of Malaysia, having raced here during the 1980s.
Mr Tachi may well ‘develop’ his TD2000 further as its engine is a Toyota 3S-FE 2.0-litre DOHC unit, the same as used in some Toyota sports models. The engines, together with either manual or automatic transmissions, are supplied brand new from Toyota via its trading arm, Toyota Tsusho Corporation of Japan. The supply agreement is quite unique because Toyota is not known to sell its own engines to other companies.
While Japan is the newest export market for the TD2000, the car is already available in Singapore (the first export market), Australia and a couple of units were also bought by British customers and are running on UK roads. The recent availability of a lefthand drive variant has made it possible for the TD2000 to be sold in Taiwan.
“We were quite surprised to get such great interest from Taiwan and because of that, we decided we would make a lefthand drive variant which is needed for that country. We did not originally plan such a variant, thinking that we would have our hands quire full just supplying to righthand driver markets!” he said.
TD Cars (Malaysia) is eyeing the European market and will soon ship a unit to Germany for homologation. Once it is approved, the car can be sold anywhere in European Union member countries. Mr Teo looks forward to exporting cars to UK which is where the basis for the TD2000 design came from.
Closer to home, he said that the company is looking forward to the time when Malaysia fully implements AFTA and the TD2000 can be sold in ASEAN countries at competitive prices.
“Right now, we have interest from people in other ASEAN countries but the problem is that there is a high import duty and so it is not practical for us to export our cars to Thailand even though it is far closer than Taiwan and Japan,” he said. “Only Singapore has a ‘favourable’ tax structure, albeit with the CoE, which enables us to sell the TD2000 at an attractive price.”
In Malaysia, the TD2000 is distributed by EON and the company also provides after-sales support.
