Volkswagen has made a deal with Malaysia’s DRB-HICOM to assemble and manufacture cars in the country.

The Volkswagen cars will be rolled off the assembly line in central Pahang state in the town of Pekan, so the German company can join forces with one of Malaysia’s largest car distributors and importers.

DRB-HICOM executives have said they hope they can turn hoped that the entry of Volkswagen into Pekan would help it to become a regional automotive hub.

Production of Volkswagen models in Malaysia is expected to start in 2012 where DRB-HICOM will run the largest automotive manufacturing facility in Malaysia.

The company also assembles cars from Honda and Mercedes-Benz.