DRB-Hicom is wanting so as to add two extra automotive manufacturers to its portfolio, and the conglomerate can also be contemplating an entry into the industrial car sub-sector. This was revealed by DRB-Hicom’s head of automotive distribution Akkbar Danial on the current EON & Sahabat Media Getaway 2024 occasion.
In a core choices presentation slide exhibiting ‘new dealerships’, there have been two ‘new manufacturers’ subsequent to sensible, and when quizzed on the matter, Akkbar mentioned that Proton’s eMAS sub-brand isn’t one of many thriller manufacturers (DRB-Hicom will in fact have Proton eMAS dealerships) and that the group is taking a look at distributor-level partnerships, not merely opening dealerships.
Any hints? “It may very well be industrial (automobiles), it may very well be passenger (automobiles), we’ll examine the market. Passenger, the discounting is simply too large now, I believe to enter passenger is a bit difficult. Industrial is sort of an attention-grabbing space to enter as you don’t need to take care of B2C, it’s extra B2B – it’s fairly attention-grabbing,” mentioned Akkbar, who can also be CEO of EON, DRB-Hicom’s auto dealership group.
You’d assume that Malaysia’s EV sub-segment is fairly saturated now, with extra choices than consumers within the present market, however the former Honda exec isn’t ruling an EV model out. “It’s saturated, however it’s important to keep in mind that we now have fairly an enormous presence within the fleet market,” Akkbar mentioned, including that there are merchandise that may complement the choices of its current manufacturers.
By the best way, automotive rental big Avis’ Malaysian enterprise is below the DRB-Hicom umbrella and the Avis fleet might need a future want for EVs. At the moment, of the DRB-Hicom manufacturers, sensible is a pure EV firm with two fashions (#1 and #3) and Audi has a few e-tron fashions, however they’re all slightly fancy, and in Audi’s case, very high-end too.
The DRB-Hicom auto distribution chief then willingly got here again to industrial automobiles, which we’ll take as a powerful trace. “For me, industrial is sort of an attention-grabbing space. It’s to not say that I’m uninterested in doing retail for passenger automobiles – it is extremely difficult – however sure, it (industrial automobiles) is an angle that we’ll look into,” he mentioned.
At the moment, DRB-Hicom’s automotive distribution portfolio has EON (dealerships for sensible and Proton), EON Auto Mart (Mitsubishi), Euromobil (Audi), Hicom Auto (Volkswagen), ACM (Isuzu) and DRB-Hicom Industrial Autos (DHCV, Daihatsu).
Additionally below the auto division is financing arm EON Capital, DRB-Hicom Auto Resolution (DHAS), Avis and EON Petromin. A JV with Saudi Arabia’s Petromin Corp, the latter is the group’s comparatively new enterprise to enter the workshop and automotive servicing enterprise.
Away from retail and providers, DRB-Hicom can also be the native associate for a number of Japanese OEMs – it has a 34% stake in Honda Malaysia, a 48% stake in Mitsubishi Motors Malaysia and controls 49% of Isuzu Malaysia. There’s additionally the 51% stake in Proton, in fact.
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