Is NAZA Malaysia's AP King?

Naza’s rise from a small used-car business into one of Malaysia’s most recognisable automotive groups is a story of ambition, timing and access. In 1975, Tan Sri SM Nasimuddin was only 21 when he used savings from helping in his father’s construction business to pursue what he actually cared about: cars. He began importing used Japanese vehicles, and according to Naza, his first batch sold out within just three months. From selling roughly 10 to 15 cars a month from a modest shoplot in Taman Maluri, the business expanded quickly, with its Kampung Baru branch reportedly moving 40 to 60 cars monthly by 1979. But Nasimuddin’s bigger achievement was that he did not remain simply a car trader. Naza secured Kia’s Malaysian distributorship, moved into local vehicle assembly and eventually invested around RM500 million in a manufacturing facility in Gurun, Kedah. In 2003, the company introduced the Naza Ria, promoted as Malaysia’s first national MPV, showing how far the business had moved from importing other companies’ cars to placing the Naza name directly on vehicles. At the same time, Naza’s growth became closely tied to one of Malaysia’s most debated automotive policies: the Approved Permit, or AP, system, which controlled the importation of vehicles. In 2005, it was revealed that Nasimuddin held around 12,500 APs, largely through Naza Kia, earning him the famous label “AP King.” That created a debate that has followed Naza’s success ever since: was the empire built mainly through entrepreneurship, or did government policy give it an unusually powerful advantage? The more realistic answer is that both played a role. The AP system clearly provided access that many competitors did not have, but Nasimuddin also used that access to build physical dealerships, distribution networks, assembly operations and manufacturing capacity rather than remaining dependent purely on imports. His ambitions eventually became even larger; by 2006, he was reportedly interested in acquiring Khazanah’s stake in Proton and had spoken about expanding the Malaysian carmaker into major overseas markets such as India and South America. His own philosophy perhaps captures the journey best: “Start small, study everything and go step by step.” Naza’s story therefore is not simply about privilege or policy, nor is it only about entrepreneurial hustle. It is about what happens when opportunity, government policy, aggressive expansion and execution come together. Whatever side of the AP debate people fall on, one thing is difficult to ignore: Naza went from selling other people’s cars from a small shoplot to building an automotive empire that eventually put its own name on the cars themselves.