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SINGAPORE: Volkswagen is taking over full retail operations for its car brands in Singapore starting Friday.
The German automaker, Europe's biggest, says the move will give it better control over its supply chain and cut the time to market.
Now former dealer Car & Cars, part of Group Exklusiv, says the decision is mutual, and that it will focus on selling other brands, especially those from China.
Volkswagen wants to sell more than 1,000 cars in Singapore by end of next year.
This is some 40 percent more than the 600 over cars its former dealer Car and Cars sold in 2006.
"Taking the retail in our own hands is basically that we are having the whole chain from manufacturing down to our own retail. We think that we can control the supply chain of cars much better into the market of Singapore with this. On top of that of course, we're interested in increasing our sales. Our target for this year is 900 plus. And next year we think that we should achieve a volume target which is over, above 1,000 cars," said Olaf Duebel, Managing Director, Volkswagen Group, Singapore.
To achieve that target, the German automaker is also investing S$2m to spruce up its showroom along Alexandra Road, install a service workshop and expand its executive offices there.
About 1 in 5 new cars sold in Singapore are European make.
However, Group Exklusiv says Asian brands from Japan, Korea and even China are making further inroads into this market, so the group itself will be focusing more on bringing in Chinese brands and it says it's already in talks with 4 automakers.
"To survive in this industry you need to sell in volume. European make out of so many brands is not more than 20,000 cars a year in Singapore. So when there's an opportunity for me to move into a volume seller make. So this is my business decision. So China car, they will be a good potential not only in Singapore, it's all over the world," said Peter Kwee, Executive Chairman, Group Exklusiv.
The move to take over its retail operations came after Volkswagen took over imports of its brands from Car and Cars in 2005.
It stated then that it would be spending S$15m over 5 years to boost market share and brand presence. - CNA /dt
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