Skoda Gets a Marketing Boost
Auto Praha Sdn Bhd, the franchise holder for Skoda cars from the Czech Republic, is set to push the marque further this year with the establishment of a marketing and distribution company in collaboration with two experienced companies (one of which we suspected in our report back in February 2003).
Equity holders in the joint-venture company, known as Auto Praha Marketing Sdn are Auto Praha, Quasar Carriage Sdn Bhd and Big City Automobile (M) Sdn Bhd. As many will already know, Quasar Carriage is the importer of Renault cars and also a distributor for Inokom. Big City is a 10-year old retail company which handles brands such as MAN trucks, Peugeot and Inokom and previously also sold Hyundai and Daewoo models.
The new company provides Auto Praha with marketing expertise that will be valuable in preparing Skoda for the increasingly competitive environment of the Malaysian market. The marketing expertise available includes key figures such as Lim Khoon Yee, Eric Kho and Raymond On, all of whom have had long experience in the Malaysian auto industry.
Mr Lim has been in the car industry since the 1970s, having started with Federal Auto/Volvo, after which he was one of the people who was involved in getting Inokom started up in the late 1990s. In recent years, he moved to Quasar Carriage as Managing Director.
Mr Kho has also had long experience in the auto industry in the USA as well as Malaysia. He worked at a Nissan dealership in California for some years before returning to Malaysia to join Federal Auto in the early 1990s. He joined Quasar Carriage in the second half of the 1990s and has been active in its marketing activities.
Mr On’s experience in the industry goes back to the 1970s when he was with Tan Chong Motors, after which he joined MBf Automobile and then established Big City Automobile.
Speaking at the signing ceremony to appoint Quasar Carriage and Big City as Skoda Dealers, Auto Praha’s Executive Director, Dato’ Mohammadiah Moner Ahmad Zazuli, said that the appointment of the two dealers would immediately increase Skoda outlets in Malaysia to fifteen from three. Both Quasar and Big City outlets would be 3S, meaning they would provide sales, service and spares.
According to Dato’ Mohammadiah Moner, some 100 Skodas have been sold since the marque reappeared on Malaysian roads a year ago (it was present between 1981 and 1983). The target for 2003 is 400 units and for 2004, 500 units.
The Skoda range comprises the Fabia hatchback, Octavia sedan and the flagship Superb, all of which sit on Volkswagen/Audi platforms as Skoda is in the VW Group. The Fabia is based on the VW Polo while the Octavia has the same platform as the VW Bora, and the Superb uses an extended Passat platform. The prices are, however, quite different from VW/Audi models and start from around RM98,000 for the Fabia to RM240,000+ for the Superb which has a 2.8-litre 30-valve V6.
Although Quasar Carriage handles Renault, Mr Lim sees no problems with having the Czech cars in its outlets. He explained that they are targeted at a different segment of the market although Skodas and Renaults will be in the same showrooms.
“The Renault models we will offer will be MPVs whereas the Skoda models will be family-oriented models and executive sedans so there will be different customers for each,” he said. The addition of Skoda would give Quasar a good spread of offerings, ranging from the low-priced Inokom Atos and light commercial vehicles, to the affordable Skoda sedans and hatchbacks and at the higher end, the MPVs of Renault.
The Skodas will all be Completely Built-Up (CBU) imports from the factories in the Czech Republic. It is known that Skoda India is accelerating its assembly program and has plans to export some of its production to Asian countries in future. However, in order to be more competitive in Malaysia, it would make sense for Skoda to assemble the cars in ASEAN to take advantage of AFTA.
“We do not know what our principal’s plans are at this time and whether they will assemble locally,” said Dato’ Mohammadiah Moner. “Nevertheless, if they do send us cars from their Indian subsidiary, I am sure the quality will be just as high as from their Czech factories.”
