Cycle and Carriage Bintang Berhad (CCB) will not be renewing its contract with Automobiles Peugeot upon its expiration at the end of this year, ending their 5-year partnership that has been making losses in the past 2 years.
CCB wants to focus on its core marques – while we do not know what they consider to be core, Mercedes Benz is definitely one and has been doing very well. The other marque that CCB has in Malaysia is Mazda.
Who will pick up the Peugeot franchise? Current speculation favourite is the Naza group, who already has a relationship with Automobiles Peugeot with the Naza 206 Bestari project – essentially a locally assembled Peugeot 206.
Looking to sell your car? Sell it with Carro.
well, look like this one piece of news is true after all the hush hush that we had been hearing for the past few months.
this is not a good happy nor bad news. Let see wait awaits us.
i dont mind as long as new distributor will do the Peugeot marque justification. CCB don’t really focus on the marque after all.
Maybe CCB & Peugeot is not the right partnership after all.
Recent interview with PSA on Peugeot strategy in M’sia shown some promise ahead, but capital need to be spent and new distributor must willing to do that, plus PSA should have sustainable strategy if they want to expand its wings here again (like the old days). The prominent marques in M’sia are very established already and to chalengge them and open up M’sia customer mindset gonna take some considerable efforts and capital.
What more important in the way forward is more number of service centre, service personnel that are competent, pleasant customer service experience, cheaper and more spare parts. not forgetting cheaper car price, as CCB pricing is not competitive. learn from the successful marques and you shall succeed.
If NAZA pick up the pieces, will there be more model besides the current 206?
this is probably not related… but paul, can u do a review on the newly launched fiat punto grande and bravo.
It mentioned in the newspaper that the car is having a 1.4Ltr turbojet engine which churnes out more than 150bhp… this performance is almost like a 2.0 litr car… really interesting,
I hope they will give up Mazda as well. Almost no contribution to the growth of Mazda population.
Capt Shopalot said,
If NAZA pick up the pieces, will there be more model besides the current 206?
————————————
OF COURSE thay have to have. but most probably they will CKD (to lower sale price thus spurred sales) current model that can be sold at great volume (i.e. a few thousands a year).
Prime target for CKD is:
1. 307/308 (wish they jump straight to 308) no point lah 307… (Naza & PSA heard me out, you won’t regret it),
2. 407 (mindless choice althrough this car is aged a bit already since its been around 3-4 already).
3. 807 – if they dare as market of MPV is there if price is ~120K.
4. 1007/107/207/plus all the SW – need more time to study market, whether they want it or not.
Don’t mind any of them at all being CKD as long as all is sold and badge as PEUGEOT.
I bought a Peugeot 307 SW in 2004 from Ipoh Motors. The car is superb and the seats so comfortable you can drive from Ipoh to Kuantan and still feel fresh. Unfortunately when you bring the car in for service you feel like you are tha poor relative as the merc customers have their own counters and you are left waiting. Furthermore the tiptronic gearblox gave trouble and the Ipoh Motors guys couldn’t troubleshoot it and just asked me to go to KL. They are jsut not committed to this marque(or mazda as well). In the end I sold the car to buy a toyota wish which is trouble free but my butt does get sore on longer journeys.
There was an article, maybe on the Edge last week that PSA is looking to expand its wings in Malaysia, focussing on basically the 307/308 and the 407. While it wasn’t stated clearly, Naza is rumored to be in the running. Hopefully whoever takes over will have decent prices, more car varieties (I want the 407 Diesel!) and good after sales support.
i don’t give a damn.
Short term solution
Proton takes up the dealership. With its extensive network and expertise, Proton can best function as company that manufactures other foreign makes and abandon it’s current range of models.
Wouldn’t you guys agree?
Its a shame. Me dad had one. I had one. They are at the forefront of Euro auto style. It was much more accessible to the masses than any other European marque here. They forgot about the masses. As it should have been that way instead of the reps trying to get faster profits from selling ‘upmarket’ stuff. That’s what CCB did and was doing with the other brands too. It does not know how to sell in the mid market. And it paid for it. I blame the French for taking too long to make a decision.
people that sells mercs always hav huge changes .
Naza only can rebadge other product from other car manufactures to it’s own and claimed that it’s product
I want to see PEUGEOT 308 1.6 Turbo soon. Please introduce it!
In Penang, the CCB Peugeot’s sales house near Burma road already taken by Naza cars… Maybe i think both CCB and Naza are cooperationg or what? But i think Naza will be the first choice for Peugeot, since they already built it.
Maybe Eon takes up dealership, and not proton. BTW, when deal ends, how to get the cars after that?
Result of J.D. Power Asia Pacific 2007 Malaysia Customer Satisfaction Index (CSI) StudySM shown that Naza got last place with 703 points compared against Industry Average of 728 pts and winner Nissan 756 pts.
Fifth place Perodua score 735 points. Total marque in survey is 9.
This should really ring a bell in PSA mind if they have any (mind) still operating.
NAZA are sucks at Customer Satisfaction, which has been one of the most sore point in owning a Peugeot. If the dealership, service etc is given to them, its akin to ‘terlepas mulut harimau, masuk mulut buaya’ thing…..
The recently Sales Satisfaction Study Index 2007 also relay the same negative feedback from new vehicle owner when it come to their experience on purchasing vehicles from Naza.
Naza is second last getting 766 pts, 7th of of 8th place. last is Potong with 759 pts. Winner Toyota with whopping 791 pts. Industry Average 772 pts.
WHY would PSA wanna choose company that are in the last place in LATEST customer satisfaction survey and second last place in LATEST sales satisfaction survey ? Crazy aaah?
5 years from now… change the dealership again.. then same old same old story.
no 1007?
It’s not as bad as it looks. Actually even before this, Automobiles Peugeot made an announcement about it’s plans for expansion in Malaysia. Therefore the announcement by C&C is just a reaction to that. This is not a spur of the moment kind of thing, but already negotiated. For all we know, it was the French that want out, because C&C was not doing a good job with Mazda too, and any unhappiness by Peugeot is understandable. It’s a case of biting too much that they cannot chew.
Taken in a positive light, once the French is in the driver’s seat, we can expect better things to come from this famous marque. They will just follow Daimler Benz, BMW, and Volvo, who all ditched the previous business model, and take majority stake in the import and distribution of their vehicles. BMW has even upped the ante, by taking over Sime Credit and reanamed it BMW credit.
Noooooo!!!!!!
I want 207GTi. Like how GTis are meant to be. Lightweight with a big punch.
if Naza then Naza lah….. nothing wrong with that…..
Feel sad for those 307 & 407 owners who bought from CCB!
Hope they will get better service with next Pug’s franchisee…
Makes without proper service network should be avoided unless you’re pocket-loaded! For a normal makan-gaji person, better avoid them….
Benz, BMW, Volvo all can change their business models coz they got volume even before that and want to cash-in more.
Peugeot.. emm .. one are forced to ask; “What volume?”. There are none. putting aside bestari that are sold in a few thousand units (less than 5k, i suspect), the chicken-and-egg dilemma still hold true.
One thing is clear; either Peugeot follow the big Euro marque business models i.e. distribute and service of Peugeot cars are directly control by them and used Naza factory as their manufacturing arm or give everything to Naza; the outlay capital required is huge and traditionally they don’t walk the talk. Unless of course, they are serius about play ball in control-freak Bolehland.
To allow Naza everything is suicidal, Naza are too profit-centric, they got too many brand to manage, too little capable human resources, absence of concrete business strategic plan (even for their own marque), little positive reputation (if any), various negative customer complaints, appear more like ali-baba traders rather than committed ones (just compared Naza and UMWToyota/Honda and you’ll get what i mean) and its not their brand.
They might do more damage than C&C had ever managed.
Naza all-the-way business models will collapse if the initial push is not accepted well by the public. its too fragile and rely onto too many hopes, dreams and ‘if’.
Personally, i prefer the combo of Peugeot as the distributor+service+parts & Naza as manufacturing arm. of course Naza could sell the car too. but servicing + parts is fully managed and QC by Peugeot wholly subsidiary.
Peugeot should know that their car is more complicated to troubleshoot due to the electronics and the fact that their electronics, no matter how good its intentions are, are basically problematic. This alone warrant them to be involved in servicing if they want to have any hopes capturing ‘no-maintenance’ mentality of Malaysian.
Excellent servicing (all problem are solved within very short period, it’s very cheap – free is possible, being treated like king when at SC, always right, full attention given by staff) is all viewed as meaningful (sincere) apologies by Bolehland car owner coz to them (us) it is the car manufacturer that create the trouble by poor design of car/parts/system in the first place!
—– going back to the distribution possibility —-
surely PSA got some bucks to spend given Bolehland, no matter what the crap regulations are (which could by kinda bypass if they willing to share lil bit of the pie and get lower profit per car) , is the biggest passenger car market in SEA. Again it is the matter of wanna take the risk or not. i vote for ‘YES’, let’s took the risk coz Benz, BMW, Volvo seems to be running fine if not well. of course, the main difference is that all of them are luxury marque.
Look how the ‘mysterious’ pricing strategy Mitsu and a few other Japs managed to do with recent launch models. Price their CBU car at superb low price, people are buying it without thinking much, the main attraction is —> as long as its cheaper than what it normally are.. Peugeot might be in a different scenario, but who cares? Its the initial ‘shock therapy’ that matters.
However still, PSA can’t afford to start ground work after 2010 or when the market liberated. who get the headstart, wins. You better start running now, or its gonna be a case of ‘a bridge too far’ coz the Japs have been running for years and there are no stopping them unless they screw up on their own.
Wonder what PSA strategy for Citroen? If they synergies their efforts for these 2 brands (Peugeot & Citroen), i believe it is better. more models to choose from, wider network and presence, common parts, common servicing technique etc… what is the point got two separate business step up for 2 brands that you own that sold so little. Waste of money, time and effort. at least make them work in tandem whenever possible. The bigger you look, the better the perception the market get about you.
If PSA cameback in BIG style, big offerings and lots of hoo haa, i am 100% sure Bolehland people will stand up and took notice. after that, initially, its all about the deals. just look at how they really wanted VW to takeover Proton… this are desperate people in dire need of good car at what appear to be ‘good’ price and ‘acceptable’ Total Cost of Ownership.. Potong Persona is another good case study and review. Its just passable… but boys.. did they booked em’ in droves…
Dear INTERMILAN,
Very interesting. You mentioned “Naza all-the-way business models will collapse if the initial push is not accepted well by the public. its too fragile and rely onto too many hopes, dreams and ‘if’.”
Can you please elaborate more on this. I’m really curious to know more about what “Naza all-the-way business model” is. We must understand all aspects of this so that we can perhaps see how the Peugeot marque will fare.
if im right intermilan, isnt it that way at the moment? PSA and Naza have an exclusive team( sales, after sales, qc control etc) for the bestari? no?
A friend from NAZA told me last week, they will start the production of CKD 407 next year under the badge of NAZA. The same like what they did to the 206. They haven’t got a name yet for the locally assembled 407. As long as NAZA do it the same way they did it with the 206, not like the Sutera. (That Sutera is rubbish!)
aksMs, your friend probably misled you about the re-branding ;) there is no commercial benefit from doing it as i read in another forum so, i think they’ll just sell ckd’d peugeots.
imho, the the best option for the naza-psa team would be to have the 308, 407 and 206/7. makes sense right? at right price (what would be the right price anyway), they could have a winner on their hands.
carlover, i agree and also think they would have a special team for it too. afterall, they have the 206 which is a special product anyway.
maibatsu_thunder,
sorry couldn’t elaborate more… busy lah.. however…
putting it in simplistic word .. “Naza all-the-way business model†means NAZA is responsible from manufacturing up to after sales service a.k.a. everything when it come to Peugeot.
Here PSA participation is again limited (just like C&C time), maybe just supply parts from Europe, control the parts price, provide the ‘occasional’ technical training, visit to factory and checking QC/QA at SC ‘periodically’ a.k.a. once in a blue moon (French engineers got chance to makan angin..).
NAZA can do it but then the overall quality will be like what JD Survey shown to us when it come to NAZA. its like ‘kais pagi makan pagi, kais petang makan petang… Proof some of NAZA showroom cum SC that sell-cum-service the Bestari have been closed (perhaps new one open elsewhere.. who knows).
Personally, I wish to see the revive of this marque. They makes good car that deserved better destiny… along with their owner of course!
Generally, CCB changed to Naza is a CLEAR downgrading of the marque name. Not that CCB is ever serious about Peugeot… but if NAZA is selected (more like when…rather than if). I am not against it but really really worry and concern. We are talking about NAZA here…
Intermilan, thanks. But by this you mean if they rebadge the car ‘Naza’? That is not possible because post-NAP, there are no benefits in ‘local’ badging on cars. All duty exemptions have to be passed out via the Industrial Adjustment Fund (IAF). Hence, all cars, showrooms and aftersales must be branded Peugeot or else it is madness. Definitely they must have a new team running the show (not the ones running the rebadged Kias), and will absorb the fully trained CCA Peugeot technical staff. The Peugeot brand has passed through many distributors – Asia Motors, Ibis, MBF, C&C and now (Naza?). IMHO they need to a) bring in new products, b) rationalise parts pricing, c) strengthen the nationwide dealer network (both sales & aftersales). Since the Peugeot regional training centre is in PJ (behind Mitsuoka), I believe there’s a strong chance that Peugeot will become a strong European brand shortly. The resale values of the cars are all tied to repairability (network, spares availability & pricing), I believe.
maibatsu thunder,
totally agree with what u said. i do not mean the car that will be built here is badge as ‘Naza’, as you said there is no point. however, even if it is badged as ‘pure’ peugeot, if PSA left it to NAZA to handle everything (from A to Z)….. then that is what i basically means.
even if they absorb 100% what CCA has established… not enuff at all. remember CCA got poor customer experience result in after sales too… they are not that good either but perhaps miles better compared to Naza. combination of both with marked… marked improvement in all sense of direction will spell doom for the Peugeot marque in Malaysia.
does Naza himself got and willing to splash hundred of millions for a mid-table Euro brand in Japanese-control Malaysian mindset?
look like an odd combination to me.. althrough that what i hoped for. if he’s willing then he must have a team of truly brilliant people behind him to come up and agree with such business strategy.. and want to implement it some more. … open up more SC with truly competent technical personnel and bring down the price of spare parts, accessories (cosmetic or not). there are many they could do… but this two sure will win many hearts.