Shanghai Diesel Engine Company Ltd (SDEC), a leading engine manufacturer in China, has shown keen interest to invest in an assembly plant in Malaysia to make natural gas engines for commercial vehicles.

The company interest to invest here is due to the increasing trend towards the use of natural gas engines, in particular the Malaysian Government plan to increase the number of NGV ( natural gas vehicle) stations to 200 by 2010 from the current 90. SDEC is also set to expand into the Southeast Asian market for commercial vehicles.

SDEC Company President, Xiong Weiming, who is in Kuala Lumpur to attend the World Chinese Entrepreneur Forum 2008 in Seri Kembangan, Selangor, is scheduled to meet the Minister of international Trade and Industry, Tan Sri Muhyiddin Mohamad Yassin and Petronas, the national oil company, to discuss the company's investment plans.

According to Xiong, the engine developed by SDEC is a complete engine which is different from the traditional NGV kit used as added equipment or accessory in a vehicle. The cost of natural gas engine for a 20-tonne to 30-tonne truck is about RM103,500, however the use of the new engine would yield significant savings of about RM17, 250 a month, he said.

SDEC, which is a unit of Shanghai Automobile Industry Co, one of the Fortune 500 enterprises, is the market leader in China, supplying more than 90% of the natural gas engines for the bus and truck market there.