New 3S centres by UMW Toyota Motor in East Malaysia
UMW Toyota Motor massively strengthened its presence in East Malaysia with the near-simultaneous opening of two new 3S centres this week. Indeed, it has been a busy couple of days by the entourage of the company’s senior management led by Chairman Tan Sri Asmat Kamaludin and President Datuk Ismet Suki, who were at Kuching yesterday to officiate a new Lexus dealership and then today at Tawau to open a new Toyota branch.
The new Lexus Kuching outlet, operated by Boulevard Jaya, is the first Lexus 3S centre to open in East Malaysia. This state-of-the-art five-story facility has the capacity to display up to seven cars on its showroom floor and also operates a service centre for owners to have their Lexus vehicles serviced and maintained. It is staffed by a team of 20 sales and after-sales personnel.
Speaking at the opening ceremony, Datuk Ismet paid tribute to Boulevard Jaya’s ‘proven track record in the auto industry’ and also praised the outfit for its ‘dedication and support of all UMW Toyota initiatives’. Boulevard Jaya had recently upgraded its existing Toyota facility to a full-fledged 3S centre as well, with the two adjacent outlets adding up to a combined cost of RM52 million.
Over at Tawau, UMW Toyota Motor completed a similar upgrade of its existing outlet to a full-fledged 3S centre at a cost of RM9 million, raising a 30,000 sq ft building on a 2.25-acre plot of land. The new outlet has a showroom floor able to accommodate up to six cars and its service centre is able to service up to 60 vehicles daily. Staffed by 22 sales and 27 after sales personnel, the Tawau branch is also equipped with amenities such as a customer lounge and complimentary WiFi.
Indeed, the launch of the newly upgraded Tawau 3S centre is exceptionally important because the Tawau sales branch alone contributed more than 11% to the total sales of the Sabah region in 2013, and serviced over 14,500 vehicles which contributed about 13% of 108,000 vehicles serviced last year.
“We strongly believe that the automotive industry will continue to grow and UMW Toyota plans to invest more than RM 500 million for network expansion to meet the increasing demand of Toyota vehicles in the country. This will be done through opening of new outlets, refurbishment and upgrading of existing Toyota facilities to provide better convenience and comfort. We will strengthen our operations to meet our sales target of more than 100,000 units in order to achieve market share of close to 15%. In the area of after sales, we will continue to attain more than 1.25 million CPUS,” Datuk Ismet Suki said in closing at the Tawau branch opening.
Pictures: Official Toyota release.
