page_title: Automotive industry in Malaysia
section_title: Malaya during the British colonial era
hierarchical_section_title: Automotive industry in Malaysia / History / 1780s–1950s / Malaya during the British colonial era
caption_attribution_description: English: Rubber tree
context_page_description: The automotive industry in Malaysia consists of 27 vehicle producers and over 640 component manufacturers. The Malaysian automotive industry is the third largest in Southeast Asia, and the 23rd largest in the world, with an annual production output of over 500,000 vehicles. The automotive industry contributes 4% or RM 40 billion to Malaysia's GDP, and employs a workforce of over 700,000 throughout a nationwide ecosystem.
  The automotive industry in Malaysia traces its origins back to the British colonial era. Ford Malaya became the first automobile assembly plant in Southeast Asia upon its establishment in Singapore in 1926. The automotive industry in post-independence Malaysia was established in 1967 to spur national industrialisation. The government offered initiatives to encourage the local assembly of vehicles and manufacturing of automobile components. In 1983, the government became directly involved in the automotive industry through the establishment of national car company Proton, followed by Perodua in 1993.
context_section_description: Malaysia had been a British colony prior to its independence in the mid-20th century. West Malaysia was originally known as Malaya, and was governed separately from the would-be East Malaysian states of North Borneo and Sarawak. British colonisation of Malaya began in the late 18th century, and would encompass all of Malaya by the early 20th century. British rule in Malaya was divided between the Straits Settlements (which included Singapore), the Federated Malay States and the Unfederated Malay States.
  During the colonial era, the Malayan economy was largely dependent on natural rubber and tin commodity exports. Industrialisation in British Malaya was not emphasised due to the profitability and high demand for rubber and tin. Malaya was strategically located along major ocean trade routes originating from East Asia and the Indian Ocean. Trade and commerce made British Malaya the most prosperous of all the European colonies in Southeast Asia.
  The boom of rubber and tin exports had funded the growth of the Malayan road network over the decades. In 1911, there were over 4,000 miles of road in the Straits Settlements and the Federated Malay States. By 1923, it was possible to drive from Singapore to Bangkok on the Malayan north-south highway. Car ownership in Malaya had also increased ten-fold between 1910 and 1925.
caption: Rubber plantation
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