The involvement of vendors in product development (PD) is able to make the process more efficient, effective and
economical. Since vendors account for more than half of the total cost of production, their involvement have major
influence on the cost and quality of the products. Vendors’ involvement in PD has significantly increased their
importance; expose them to greater risks and challenges. As a return, the vendors are able to improve business
performance results, productivity, and reputation, thus increasing the companies’ competitive advantage. To be
successful in PD require certain level of design capabilities (DC), thus huge investment is needed. However, the
Malaysian automotive market size is considered small and vendors’ capabilities are also limited. Since, studies on
vendors’ DC, particularly, in Malaysia is very limited, an empirical study was conducted to explore on the critical
success factors (CSFs) in enhancing the vendors design capabilities for the Malaysian automotive industry. A series
of interviews were conducted on selected automaker and vendors from different categories to identify the critical
success factors (CSFs) that are able to enhance the design capabilities development for Malaysian vendors
