• CBU and CKD Porsche Cayenne are visually indistinguishable
• The biggest hint is the VIN
• How to tell the CBU and CKD VIN apart?

The Sime Darby-owned facility in Kulim, Kedah has begun assembling the 2022 Porsche Cayenne for the Malaysian market.

The Porsche Cayenne arrives at the Sime Darby facility in semi knocked down (SKD) form – the shell comes pre-painted from the mother plant in Slovakia and the rest of the parts are assembled here.  If users want to be very academic about the subject, then yes, the Porsche Cayenne is SKD, but we will still refer to it as CKD because under Malaysian tax regulations, there is no such thing as SKD.

Also Read: CKD 2022 Porsche Cayenne - Inside the first plant outside of Europe to build a Porsche

Therefore, for the most part, the imported (CBU) and locally-assembled (CKD) Porsche Cayenne are visually indistinguishable from each other. The only way to differentiate the ones assembled in Kulim and the ones assembled in Bratislava, Slovakia is via its VIN.

Also Read: Cheaper by RM 115k, this is how the CKD E3 Porsche Cayenne looks like in the flesh

VIN, or Vehicle Identification Number can be considered as a car’s Identification Number (IC).

Also Read: VIN, it's your car's 'IC number' and here's how to find it

For Cayenne units assembled in Slovakia, the 11^th digit in the VIN denotes the plant it was assembled in. In this case, a CBU Cayenne’s 11^th digit would be D, which denotes that it is from Slovakia.

The Kulim-assembled Cayenne, on the other hand, has an 11^th digit that is an M, which we reckon means Malaysia. If a Cayenne you see has an 11^th digit that’s an M, then it was assembled in Malaysia. It's not even hard, as the Cayenne's VIN is visible on the lower left corner of the windshield.

Now, marques under the larger Volkswagen Group typically have a slightly different VIN format from the rest of the world, so one cannot just take the first few digits of the VIN and assume that it’s from Germany (VINs starting with W typically come from Germany).

Remember, different car manufacturers have different VIN formats, so they cannot be compared directly. Another German marque that assembles vehicles in Malaysia is Volkswagen. In the case of the CKD Volkswagen Golf line-up, its VIN starts with PPV, in-line with other Malaysia-assembled cars, as PPV is Volkswagen Malaysia’s identifier. Their CBU cars have VINs that start with, you've guessed, WVW. 

Also Read: This is proof that CKD production of the Mk8 VW Golf GTI has started in Malaysia