Tan Chong Motor Holdings Berhad was incorporated on 14 October 1972, and in 1974, the company was listed on the Kuala Lumpur Stock Exchange.

(TCMA), a subsidiary of the TCMH Group commenced automobile assembly operations in 1976 at its plant in Segambut, Kuala Lumpur.

The TCMH Group also holds the franchise rights for UD Trucks, Renault and Foton Motor in Malaysia, as well as for Nissan vehicles in Vietnam, Cambodia, Laos and Myanmar respectively.

The automotive market was relatively small as only the wealthy could afford cars in major cities like Kuala Lumpur, Penang and Ipoh.

In addition to the quality concerns, anti-Japanese sentiment was still strong in 1960s Malaysia, owing to bitter memories from the Japanese occupation during World War 2.

In May 1964, the Malaysian government enacted a policy to encourage the local assembly of vehicles and manufacturing of automotive components, as per the recommendation of experts from the Colombo Plan.

[5] Cars that were locally assembled with Malaysian manufactured components would be granted a reduction in import duties, making them cheaper and more competitive as a result.

[4] The dominance of long standing European brands had greatly diminished by the 70s, in contrast with the rapid rise in demand for Japanese cars.

[6] Like Datsun, Toyota had also embarked on a similar approach in its marketing, offering affordable, reliable and fuel efficient vehicles for the masses.

By the 80s, the Malaysian government had realized that their 1964 policy on the local assembly of vehicles and manufacturing of automotive components had not resulted in technology transfer as originally envisioned.

Prices of new cars in Malaysia had inflated significantly by the early 80s, with most if not all locally assembled CKD models generally costing more to produce than an equivalent CBU import.

The National Car Project was drafted in the early 80s with the objective of accelerating technology transfer, increasing and rationalising local content, and involving more bumiputera entrepreneurs in the then largely ethnic Chinese dominated automotive industry.

[17] However, in November 1989, Tan Chong Motor expressed intentions to export their Nissan vehicles to neighbouring ASEAN countries, such as Singapore and Brunei.

[17] TCMA had also pioneered women's rights in the traditionally male dominated Malaysian automotive industry, with as many as 44% of the assembly workforce in 1989 being female.

[18][19] The female employees were treated no different from the males, and many carried out heavy tasks like welding, wet-sanding and polishing, as well as fixing doors, bumpers and engine parts among others.

Since its founding, the Tan Chong name had become synonymous with Datsun and Nissan vehicles in Malaysia, but in mid-2003, the company adopted the Renault brand in line with the Renault–Nissan Alliance.

Ltd. and Tan Chong Motor (Lao) Co., Ltd. handle the marketing, distribution and provisioning of after-sale services for Cambodian-market and Laotian-market Nissan cars respectively.

Produced in Tan Chong Motor Assemblies (TCMA), the XV had the production target of 6,500 units per year, with 70 percent allocated for the export market.

[41] After several disputes, TC Subaru assets was successfully seized by the government, including buildings and hundreds of unsold cars which was then auctioned.

[46] Additionally, the TCMH Group signed a distributorship agreement with Kawasaki Heavy Industries Ltd. in December 2014 to distribute and sell CBU Kawasaki motorcycles, spare parts and accessories in Vietnam through their subsidiary, TC Motorcycles (Vietnam) Co., Ltd.[47] As of Q1 2016, Tan Chong Nissan had overtaken arch rival UMW Toyota after years of playing second fiddle, which means Nissan at the time was the fourth best-selling car brand in Malaysia, after Perodua, Proton and Honda.

APM Automotive is the sole breadwinner for the groups financial status for cash-flow and revenue due to restriction and movement control oder (MCO).

Since then, the company struggles to make a comeback with rivals and competitors such as Sime Darby, Hap Seng, Perodua, Proton, and others take an opportunity for post-pandemic recovery.

Due to increasing loss in revenue, Tan Chong Motor's decided to further diversify in non-automotive area such as renewable energy.

The Group's as a consortium (Tan Chong Motors, APM Automotive and TC Warisan) was awarded for 30MWac Large-Scale Solar (LSS) phase 4 (LSS4) by Malaysia Energy Commissioner for 21 years lease from Lembaga Urusan Air Selangor.

The language barrier and communication weakness by Tan Chong sides makes the local residents unhappy with the non-transparency development in their backyard lake.

None of Tan Chong sides would take responsibility to nearby resident's damage houses and pests (snakes, reptiles and amphibians).

Ownership of Tan Chong Consolidated is currently split between the two branches of the family at a 55:45 percent ratio, with Kim Hor's side holding the smaller slice.

The firm is the parent of four listed companies including flagship Tan Chong Motor Holdings, assembler and distributor of Nissan cars.

Tan Kim Hor was the Executive Chairman of Wawasan TKH Holdings Bhd., which was formed following a fallout with Yuet Foh's children.

Heng Chew's son Anthony Tan co-founded Uber competitor Grab, which is growing quickly in Southeast Asia.