Q&A
Sime’s Prime Mover
By Leow Ju-Len
Q: What position are you taking up in China?
A: I’m going to Hong Kong as the head of the Motor Group, for all the (motor) operations in Hong Kong and China. My role there is essentially to seize opportunities in China and grow what has already been developed at this point.
Q: What kind of presence does Sime Darby have in China?
A: We have quite a few dealerships in all the key cities, with at least ten brands, from Nissan to BMW, Honda Toyota, to mention a few.
Q:Your move comes in the wake of changes at Performance Motors. Is there a link between your promotion and what has been going on there?
A: It’s totally unrelated. If you look at how our businesses are conducted in Singapore, all the non-BMW businesses are run very separately and independently.
In terms of timing, if you look at it historically, this is the time of year when Sime Darby makes its changes for appointments, promotions, transfers and so on.
Q: Was this a sudden promotion, or had it been in the works?
A: I think this has been planned for a while. It’s not a sudden move as such.
Q: Why did you choose to get into the automotive trade?
A: I’ve always had this interest in cars. In my younger days, I used to own cars like Alfas and a Ford Escort XR3i. So I suppose when the opportunity came I jumped at it.
Q: Any regrets? It’s a tough trade, after all.
A: No no, of course any business is tough, but it has been fun for me. It’s a business that I enjoy. It’s very dynamic.
Q: Which is more fun? The cars, or doing the deals?
A: I think the fun part comes from the products, you know? In most instances you can identify with the products you’re selling. It’s something topical and it is exciting. The changes in the cars, the improvements have been phenomenal.
Q: What are your favourite cars?
A: I’ve had, as I said, in my younger days a passion for faster cars. In latter days of course I’m more sedate. A family car like a BMW 5 Series is ideal. But currently if I had one car I’d like to drive, I think it’s the Range Rover. I think it’s fantastic.
Q: You’re not just saying that because Regent Motors carries Land Rover?
A: Not at all! I think if you had a series of cars, this would certainly be one of them. You might have a Ferrari or something like that as well in the garage.
Q: After 10 years of running Sime’s car businesses here, what do you look back on most fondly?
A: It’s the interaction with the people. I’ve got some very close and good friends in the business. The ability to bring in new people to the business has also been very satisfying for me. I think we’ve groomed quite a few good managers at Regent Motors.
Q: And what do you look back on that makes you most proud?
A: One thing that people don’t know is that I do cover businesses in Australia and New Zealand. So if I take the countries in sequence, perhaps I can tell you what are the significant achievements. If you take Singapore, I think it’s really putting the Ford brand on the map. In 2002 we achieved the highest ever Ford sales in Singapore. That’s certainly made a difference.
In Australia, we secured the Peugeot business, and there we distribute through a network of 40 dealers. We took this business in 2001 and built it up very quickly from a low base of about 2,500 units a year to something like 7,300 units last year.
In New Zealand, if you look at what we’ve done in terms of developing the retail dealerships we acquired in 1998, it is significant. We are the largest dealership in New Zealand and each of the 10 franchises bears the latest corporate identity and are market leaders.
Q: Some work in Singapore is also not complete, like Sime’s $45-million showroom on Alexandra Road. Why leave in the middle of such changes?
A: The answer to that is that we work as a team here. At any point where one of the members has to go off, there’s continuity in terms of the current project and where we want to go. Yes, to some extent I’d like to be here to see all this, but I suppose there’s this opportunity in China to take advantage of. I’m happy that I’ve been asked to look at this.
Q: You’ll be working with quite a number of brands in China. Is that in any way a sort of preparation for Singapore?
A: Certainly, we’ll look at expanding in those areas with those brands. The cities are quite far apart and each city will have its own nucleus of dealerships.
Q: What about new brands for Singapore?
A: As a group, we’re always looking for opportunities. As it stands, the market is looking quite sewn-up.
Q: If there’s one franchise you could bring to Singapore, what would it be?
A: This will get a lot of people excited! If you take any motor group, to complete the picture you need to be at the high end, the mid-range and the entry-level. If you take Sime Darby in Singapore today, we have the high end products, we have the mid-range, but really we don’t have an entry-level product.The question then is, at the entry-level, is there a profit equation? Because at that level, it’s all cut-throat: “What’s the cheapest car? What’s the lowest price?” So, it’s not easy. In terms of a segment where we don’t have a product, then that’s really something that we would consider and we continually look at.
