Malaysia does not conjure up thoughts with car enthusiasts as being an automotive powerhouse. Indeed, many of the cars built in this burgeoning Southeast Asian nation are manufactured in cooperation with more known brands including Volkswagen and Kia. That may all be changing soon as Malaysias top auto manufacturers start building more models containing their own content. One manufacturer, Naza Automotive Manufacturing, is doing just that by releasing a pair of models this month that will be Malaysian designed and will utilize local materials. How could this move prove to be important to American motorists? Well, just as several Chinese manufacturers have designs on bringing cheaply priced cars to the U.S., Malaysian automakers may soon follow. Likely, you have never heard of Naza, but keep an eye on the world auto scene as Naza and at least one other Malaysian automaker, Proton, rush to develop cars explicitly designed for the lucrative U.S. market.
Naza, is not likely to be a name easily forgotten, but for two different reasons: the first, is the automakers similarity to Nazi and the second, because the company will soon be building its own cars for the expanding...