Geely aims to retake Singapore auto sales

China automotive Geely Singapore exclusive distributor Exklusiv Auto told Nanyang100.com that it believes Geely has the potential to regain leadership in the economic cars segment sales in Singapore although currently under assaults from Korean and other China brand cars.

"Singapore automotive market is one of the most competitive in the world. Although there is only 4 million over population, almost all major brands of automotives are sold here" said Mr Kevin Lee, Market Manager for Exklusiv Auto in a recent exclusive interview with Nanyang100.com.

Lee: "Three year ago, the number of European cars sales dropped to just 15% of total Singapore car sales which Mercedez and BMW occupied 10%. We observed this trend and anticipated that European cars sales in Singapore will get smaller. We begin to consider stopping the sales of Rover and replace with an Asian brand. Geely was one of the brands we considered seriously."

Exklusiv Auto was the official importer and distributor of Rover cars in Singapore before they decided to drop the dealership.

Lee reviewed that the decision to take on China made cars; an unknown brand here then, was done after reviewing historically how Japanese and Korean cars enter the Singapore market.

"(Just like Japanese and Korean cars), China cars will soon be able to compete head-on with other established brands" said Lee.

According to Lee, the positive market acceptance for China made cars was a surprise to them. They managed to sell more than 500 cars in the first year.

Based on Nanyang100 research, total China made cars sold in Singapore for that year was more than 1,000 vehicles.

"There exists a demand for economic car in Singapore. People just want to get from point A to point B. They need a transport and not a luxury car. Geely fit nicely to address this need" said Lee.

The entry of Geely into the local market has captured market attention, in particularly the Korean cars.  With the weak Korean won and desire to compete for this segment of the market, prices for Korean cars dropped more than 20% in February this year resulting in the doubling of Korean cars sales from 500 units to more than 1500 units for February.

Because of low pricing and other factors, Geely car sales for second half of 2008 was reduced by half, "said Lee.

Beside the issue of pricing, Geely cars also suffered from lack of local climatisation. The car was not customized for our local condition leading to issues and bad publicity."

"Quality issues with other China made products, such as the recent tainted milk also affect our sales," said Lee.

In this regards, Lee said that Exklusiv Auto has been working closely with its principle Geely Auto to address some of the short comings. Additional marketing and spare parts support have been allocated.

Lee estimates that there are around 430,000 households with children and have a combined income of $2K to $6K that are yet to own a car. This is still a sizeable market for car sales.

With the right strategy, Lee believes Geely should be able to regain market leadership irrespectively of the Global financial crisis.

"We wants to exceed 2008 sales" said Lee.