EPMB is slated to commence the CKD operations for both the GWM Haval Jolion HEV and Wey 80 PHEV later in 2025.
Aside from celebrating its 1,000th unit production milestone, local automotive manufacturer EP Manufacturing Berhad (EPMB) also confirms plans to locally assemble (CKD) more models at its Pegoh plant in Melaka. Among those listed in its future CKD plans are GWM’s hybrid-powered duo, namely the Haval Jolion and Wey 80 PHEV MPV.
According to its official statement, the Haval Jolion HEV will be the first to join the Haval H6 HEV in its CKD plan, with said B-segment SUV’s production set to commence in April 2025. This will be followed by the Wey 80 PHEV MPV, which, according to EPMB, will take place by the end of 2025.
Starting with the Haval Jolion HEV, this hybrid-powered B-segment SUV was initially previewed back during the Malaysia Autoshow 2023 (MAS 2023), where it is slated to go directly against the Honda HR-V e:HEV RS as the sole hybrid-powered model in the segment. Since then, no news was made regarding the Jolion HEV, although the SUV model did make its subsequent public appearance at several GWM Malaysia events afterwards.
Unlike its bigger sibling, the Haval H6 HEV, the Jolion HEV uses a 1.5-litre 4-cyl nat-asp petrol mill instead of a turbocharged unit. Said petrol mill combines with a 156 PS and 250 NM-rated electric motor and a 2-speed dedicated hybrid transmission (DHT) to deliver a total system output of 190 PS and 375 NM, making it slightly less peppier than the H6 HEV’s turbocharged hybrid powertrain setup.
Moving on to the Wey 80, this plug-in hybrid (PHEV) MPV is one of the two models displayed at GWM Malaysia’s booth at the Kuala Lumpur International Mobility Show 2024 (KLIMS 2024) earlier this month. It uses GWM’s proprietary Hi4 PHEV powertrain setup that comprises a 1.5-litre 4-cyl turbocharged petrol mill rated at 156 PS, plus two electric motors that combine to deliver a stellar total system output of 487 PS and 762 NM.
Providing juice for the dual-motor setup is a 37.96-kWh ternary lithium battery pack, which also grants the MPV with up to 140 KM of pure EV range, at least according to the lenient CLTC standards.
What’s also interesting about EPMB’s official statement regarding its future CKD plans is that the company emphasised the locally-assembled Wey 80 “will be catered to the ASEAN market,” thus indicating that the CKD model might be exported to other ASEAN markets, and not just strictly for the local market consumption.
Further fuelling this speculation is the fact that the Wey 80 PHEV is not available in a right-hand drive version for now, not to mention it has yet to make its official debut in any key ASEAN markets, with said model also previewed at both the Thai Motor Expo 2024 (TME 2024) earlier this month. Should the Thai market be getting the same CKD model as ours, perhaps we can expect the Wey 80 PHEV to make both its Malaysian and Thai debut roughly at the same time.
