Locally-Assembled C200K To Be Under RM280,000
Cycle & Carriage Bintang Bhd (CCB) today announced that it will be offering the locally-assembled Mercedes-Benz C200K at under RM280,000, a bit lower than the RM290,000 originally stated when the fully-imported units were introduced.
The first locally-assembled units were displayed today at a press/dealers presentation in Subang and the company says that it is in the process of submitting an application for price approval to the authorities. Some 400 orders have already been taken for the locally-assembled C200K, which comes with a compressor, and at this time, it is believed that output is around 3 – 4 cars a day.
“The sophistication of the new C-Class requires more time and effort to assemble and we are discussing with Mercedes-Benz about ways to speed up assembly,” said Datuk Hj Mohamad Hj Hasan, Managing Director of CCB. He added that the C200K is assembled entirely at the company’s own plant in Petaling Jaya, Selangor (adjacent to its head office) and only painting is done at another plant.
Declining to forecast the number of units the company expects to sell this year, he said that the E-Class is presently the best-seller for the company but expects that the new C-Class will become the volume-seller from the middle of the years onwards. He also revealed that towards the end of the year, CCB will introduce the new C-Class coupe as a CBU model to add more excitement to the line-up available.
At the same event today, CCB also announced that warranties on all Mercedes-Benz cars sold by the company or its authorised dealers and imports sanctioned by it will have an extended warranty period of 24 months, added to the standard worldwide 12-month warranty, bringing it to a total of 36 months. The extended warranty – with no mileage limit – has the usual conditions, among which the owner must bring in the vehicle to an authorised CCB service centre at the required intervals.
“It is a normal condition of warranties but on our part, we really want our customers to bring their cars to our service centres because the cars are very sophisticated nowadays. There are many computers and electronic systems and special equipment is needed. If the owners come to us, they will avoid the many problems we have seen happening when they go to workshops that are not authorised by us because the people do not have the knowledge and skills to handle such cars,” explained Datuk Haji Mohamad Hasan.
Although the extended warranty costs CCB extra money to maintain, Datuk Haji Mohamad Hasan said that it is being offered as a gesture of appreciation for the support of its customers and also a sign of confidence in the quality of local assembly. All M-B cars sold by the company from December 1st 2000 will have this extended warranty at no extra charge. It is also transferable to another owner if the warranty is still in effect.
