New Official Importer for Porsche and Saab

Jaseri Auto Sdn Bhd today announced its appointment as official importer, distributor and after-sales provider for Porsche and Saab cars. The company signed its distributorship agreement earlier in the year and has invested around one million ringgit in setting up a the Eurokars Centre showroom and service facility in Glenmarie, Shah Alam, Selangor.

While Jaseri Auto holds the official distribution rights, the retail and after-sales operations will be undertaken by an affiliated company, Auto Eurokars Sdn Bhd, which has the involvement of Trans-Eurokars Pte Ltd of Singapore which also handles the same two brands.

Speaking at a press conference this afternoon, Dato’ Mokhzani Mahathir, Chairman of Jaseri Auto, said that the collaboration with the Singapore company was due to its greater experience in the business, particularly with Porsche and Saab.

“Admittedly Jaseri Auto is a new company in this business although we do have a staff with much experience and we are also very enthusiastic and committed to the business. We felt it would be a good idea to tie up with Trans-Eurokars to set up our facilities and they were willing to share their experience with us,” he said.

Until recently, the official Porsche and Saab importers for Malaysia were Auto Concessionaires. It is understood that, following the economic recession, the activities of Auto Concessionaires were scaled down and as a result, both makes chose to seek new importers in Malaysia and Jaseri Auto was successful in being selected.

The Eurokars Centre facility has separate sections for Porsche and Saab showrooms and a large service centre under the same roof. Though both are luxury brands, there is no conflict for Jaseri Auto and its two principals are perfectly happy to be in close proximity.

“We don’t have any problem at all even though we are both luxury brands. Our customers are different and it is a logical thing to do [to have a common importer] in the smaller markets,” said Peter Ruefli, the Asia-Pacific Director for General Motors’ Luxury Brands (Saab is a unit of GM). “In fact, there are some other countries – Singapore and Spain, for example – where we have the same importer.”

Mr Ruefli said Saab would be working with Jaseri Auto to strengthen its brand image and would establish a competitive pricing policy. He expressed confidence in the future of the brand in Malaysia and expected to see greater interest with more new models to be introduced within the next few years.

GM’s luxury brands include Cadillac, a very American brand which has not been sold much outside North America. A few years ago, a company attempted to sell some Cadillacs in Malaysia but did not do well although part of the reason was the economic downturn and products that may not have been appropriate to the market.

Mr Ruefli revealed that he was discussing the possibility of Jaseri Auto also handling Cadillac products in future. He felt that with the big push by GM to raise the volumes of its luxury brands worldwide, there would be serious effort made to provide more appealing products for the market.

“I can tell you that Cadillac will launch the new CTS model shortly and this, I believe, could be a very good product for your country,” he said.

Dato’ Mokhzani said that his company was evaluating the possibility of handling Cadillac in future and a decision would be made over the next six months. “We don’t want to just rush into taking on new brands although what I have been told of Cadillac’s product plans look quite interesting,” he added.

On the Porsche side of the business, Dr Andreas Offermann, Porsche’s Director of Sales, expressed similar confidence in its new importer. He was very pleased with the way the showroom and facilities conformed to Porsche’s Corporate Identity.

“”We are glad to have found a qualified partner, financially strong, with good automotive experience and people who understand our brand and speak the same ‘language’ as we do,” he said.

Dr Offermann revealed that during the next 12 months, Porsche had allocated a maximum of 60 units for Jaseri Auto and added that he had learnt that the five Porsche Turbos and 2 GT2s in the allocation had already been sold.

Concerning the competition from other ‘unofficial’ importers, Dato’ Mokhzani said that Auto Eurokars had the advantage in that it was officially recognised by Porsche and possessed the necessary information and equipment to look after Porsches properly. The company would also have technical support from Porsche’s regional office in Singapore whenever it had problems it could not fix. Additionally, Auto Eurokars has an engineer from Germany appointed by Porsche to be resident at the service centre.

“Porsches are technologically advanced and servicing them is not so easy,” he explained. “Perhaps the private workshops can do some servicing but they won’t be able to do it as well as we can and I am sure that the owner of a Porsche, who has spent such a great deal of money, would prefer to have his car serviced properly,” he said. “I believe that this is how Porsche owners, of which there are around 1,800 in this country, will feel and so we have that advantage against the other importers who just sell the cars and forget about the after-sales.”

Dr Offermann added that Auto Eurokars would be obliged to handle any warranty claims under Porsche’s worldwide warranty policy but if the cars were serviced by an unauthorised service centre, the warranty would be void.

Auto Eurokars will also be promoting the GT3 Carrera Cup, a one-make race which will be a supporting event in the 2003 F1 race in Sepang. To participate, drivers must use the purpose-built Porsches which cost DM211,000 ex-factory (about RM370,000 before Malaysian import duties). 24 units will be available for sale in Malaysia and Auto Eurokars will be actively promoting them.

“This event has been organised for Asia – with the exception of Japan, which has its own Carrera Cup series – and there will be eight races,” explained Dato’ Mokhzani. “We have decided to run our round only in 2003 because it is a very important race and we want to ensure that it is organised to the highest professional standards. So we need to have enough time to put it together and that is why it is not planned for next year.”

The Eurokars Centre was opened today by the Regent of Selangor, DYMM Tengku Idris Shah. In the near future, Auto Eurokars will also open a showroom at the Darby Park Building adjacent to KL City Centre.