KUALA LUMPUR: Luxury automobile firm Mercedes-Benz Malaysia is set to invest RM280mil over the next four years to strengthen its foothold in the country due to its encouraging sales performance.

Mercedes-Benz has invested about RM500mil in Malaysia over the past decade.

Its president and chief executive officer Roland Folger said the RM280mil was slated for upgrading production facility, introducing new models, enriching customer experience and looking into the investment of its dealer network, among others.



This is supported by its robust sales performance. Last year, Mercedes-Benz registered a record-breaking sales performance that reflected a 17% year-on-year (y-o-y) increase to a total of 9,419 units of vehicles.

This was led by the annual retail volume of its passenger car segment that rose 29% y-o-y, totalling 6,932 units in 2014. Mercedes-Benz’s bread-and-butter models, namely, the C, E and S Classes’ sales volume totalled 4,575 units cumulatively last year, registering an 11% increase over 2013.

Its new-generation flagship S-Class model, which redefined the luxury benchmark, posted sales of 635 units, surging 388% since 2013.

“This past year has been incredible for Mercedes-Benz Malaysia in every way. We saw record sales, especially in the passenger car segment. We have flexed our muscles across the entire product line with the new-generation compact car portfolio and brought customer experience to an all-time high,” said Folger at a press conference after a briefing on its performance last year.

Its key milestones last year included the launch of the RM60mil Hap Seng Star Balakong Autohaus and also its continued support of national aspirations to become an energy-efficient vehicle hub with a RM15mil investment in its Pekan production plant.

The production plant has an assembly line for the S400L Hybrid, which received full duty exemption following its launch in March last year.

For this year, Mercedes-Benz expects another record-breaking sales figure despite the expected introduction of the goods and services tax in April that may dampen consumer sentiment.

“I don’t deny that overall consumer sentiment may be affected but our brandname is so strong and we are introducing an array of exciting new models this year, including the new E300 BlueTEC Hybrid.

“As a member of the Daimler Group, we will ensure that our targets surpass what we have achieved so far. With the help of our dealer partners, the entire organisation will lead us to another phenomenal year in 2015,” he said.

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