Sime Darby Motors City in Ara Damansara, Petaling Jaya.
PETALING JAYA: Sime Darby Bhd’s motor division plans to continue leveraging on digitalisation, operational excellence, mobility solutions and mergers and acquisitions to maintain its position as one of the country’s leading automotive players.In Malaysia, Sime Darby Motors is the dealer for BMW, Ford, Hyundai, Jaguar, Land Rover, MINI, Porsche and Volvo.
Speaking with StarBizWeek, Sime Darby Motors Malaysia managing director of retail and distribution Jeffrey Gan says the automotive arm of the group has always been committed to high standards in delivering services to customers.
“Along with investing in the hardware, we ensure that this is supported by highly skilled certified technicians, all of whom hold high level certification by our key brands. We also have an award-winning sales team,” he says.
Gan notes that the group’s facility is integrated with advanced technology to improve the customer’s experience.
“Knowing who our customers are is necessary to create personalised functions. It is important to consistently deliver a high-quality customer experience throughout the car purchasing journey and beyond,” he adds.
Gan cites the group’s six flagship centres catering to their different brands at Sime Darby Motors City in Ara Damansara, Selangor. It is the largest of its kind in South-East Asia and equipped with cutting-edge technology, to provide a good customer experience.He also cites Sime Darby Motors mobile application, which has enabled sales representatives to be connected anytime and anywhere with real-time data to better serve customers.
File pic of Gan (right) with the Hyundai Kona Electric. With him is Hyundai-Sime Darby Motors managing director Low Yuan Lung.
“The application allows our sales team to populate and print application forms wirelessly, streamlining the administrative process and reducing waiting time for customers.”When asked about the outlook for the automotive market especially with the ongoing economic headwinds such as rising interest rates accompanied by inflationary pressures, Gan says the prospects for the automotive sector remain positive and it is mainly attributable to the pent-up demand for new cars in the first half of 2022.
“In the second half of 2022, efforts to fulfil the backlog of orders and promotional campaigns have further boosted car sales. While the global supply chain disruptions and resumption of the sales and service tax after June 2022 will pose downside risks, the recovering labour market and improving economic activity are helping to cushion the impact,” he adds.Gan is optimistic of better prospects for the sector going into 2023.
Sime Darby Motors has also developed a strategy to leverage on the growing interest in electric vehicles (EVs).
“Our service advisers and technicians are undergoing training to keep pace with the demand for EVs, and plans are being executed to reconfigure showrooms and service workshops,” he says.
Other efforts include the establishment of a stronger EV charging infrastructure.
“To this end, KINETA was established by Sime Darby to provide EV charging solutions in Malaysia, as well as in Hong Kong, and it has started supplying and installing EV charging equipment such as Wallbox, Siemens, Starcharge, Tritium,” he adds.
To recap, the group had entered into a distribution agreement with China-based BYD, a manufacturer of new energy vehicles (NEV).
NEVs refer to battery-powered and hybrid cars as well as fuel cell electric vehicles.
This will see Sime Darby Motors distributing BYD’s NEVs for the Malaysian passenger car market, namely the ATTO 3 and e6 models.Gan is confident that the partnership will contribute to positive earnings growth.
The convenience of charging electric cars must be a priority in accelerating mass adoption.
He believes that this can only be achieved by setting up a number of charging stations.
Sime Darby Motors has inked a memorandum of understanding with Tenaga Nasional Bhd to explore initiatives to accelerate the adoption of EVs.
This includes establishing a network of EV charging infrastructure along key highways across Peninsular Malaysia. Both parties will look into energy-efficient and renewable energy initiatives to optimise the cost of EV- charging infrastructure and reduce carbon emissions.
Sime Darby Motors is also in collaboration with prominent hotels in Klang Valley to instal EV charging stations.
“To date, we have 36 charging facilities across the Klang Valley, Penang, and Johor,” Gan says.
One of the threats facing Sime Darby Motors is the emergence of the agency model, whereby car manufacturers will bypass dealerships and sell automobiles directly to consumers.With this method, the car manufacturers would have better control over pricing as well as profit margins.
“We believe that dealerships will continue to play a critical role, particularly in the premium and luxury segments. For buyers, the purchase is not merely a transaction, it is an experience. Our customers value the physical touch points and engagement that dealers like us offer,” Gan adds.
According to him, an agency model allows original equipment manufacturers to control the sales process online, with an agent undertaking the delivery for a commission.
While the margins on new car sales are relatively slim, dealers would not need to take on heavy inventory holdings.
“As a dealer group, our strength is in the ability to enhance other parts of our value chain including high margin and direct engagement with customers such as our after sales services,” he adds.
After sales services are crucial to Sime Darby Motors as it contributes significantly to the group’s earnings.
Gan explains that while sales are a one-time experience, aftersales services will maintain a long-term relationship between the group and its customer throughout the ownership experience.
