C&C Bintang to Distribute Peugeot in 2002

Finally, the rumours of a change in distributors for the Peugeot franchise can end. Cycle & Carriage Bintang Bhd (CCB) has officially informed the KLSE that it has signed a Letter of Intent with the French carmaker “to set down the understanding reached relating to the possibility of appointing CCB as the importer and distributor of Peugeot vehicles in build-up (sic) form and related spare parts, as well as the assembler of the vehicles in Malaysia.”

Negotiations are still ongoing on the finer details but both parties hope to close the deal by December 31st 2001 and sign a definitive agreement setting out terms and conditions of C&C Bintang being appointed as the importer/distributor in Malaysia.

In the statement to the KLSE, C&C Bintang, which already handles the Mercedes-Benz and Mazda franchises, states that “the Peugeot Business is in line with the strategy to broaden the range of vehicles distributed, assembled and retailed by CCB and thereby enhance its position as a leading multi-franchise operator in Malaysia offering more choice to consumers.”

The switch in Peugeot distributors has been in the air for quite some time, in fact as far back as 1997 when it was even rumoured that Proton was going to be appointed. However, a source in Peugeot clarified that there was actually no specific discussion for Proton to take over the franchise.

“We had approached Proton in 1997 to see if they were interested in assembling our cars at that time due to some issues with Oriental Assemblers,” a senior Peugeot executive explained to AW’s Chips Yap. “At that time, the Malaysian market was down and Proton had some spare capacity. However, nothing came of the discussions but it seems that this contact resulted in such a rumour being created!”

It is believed that Proton had been keen not just to assemble on contract but also wanted the Peugeot franchise and Peugeot was not considering any change in distributors then. The senior executive admitted that there were some difficulties with MBf-Peugeot then but that Peugeot was still willing to stick with them.

More recently, Oriental Holdings’ name was also linked with Peugeot (because it assembles the Peugeot 406) as well as the Sime Darby group. The latter party seemed like a very strong possibility because it had taken on the Peugeot franchise in Australia and Singapore earlier in the year.

However, C&C Bintang also has a similar sort of ‘link’ to Peugeot in that it is affiliated to Singapore’s C&C Ltd (which has a 49% stake in C&C Bintang), and C&C Ltd owns Indonesia’s Astra which has the Peugeot franchise there. It could well be that Peugeot sees some potential in Indonesia in spite of the current turmoil. In fact, back in 1998, the company was already looking at assembling the Partner MUV (a Renault Kangoo rival) there but dropped the idea for unknown reasons.

Neither officials of C&C Bintang nor MBF-Peugeot could be reached to obtain additional details of this latest development.

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