We meet with Glen Tan who has headed the Subaru business in the ASEAN region for the longest time from his corporate headquarters and hometown Singapore. This one person and his team have grown the Subaru name in new markets with strong regional partners and pure determination to make the ‘Subaru’ name household.
Q. What are you immediate plans for Subaru In Malaysia?
A. We already have 16 outlets and 13 of our outlets are 3S and 3 other outlets are 1S for now. We are looking at expanding our network to east Malaysia, namely Kuantan and Terengganu and moving along to Sabah and Sarawak soon after. We are looking at a total of about 26 dealers by the end of the year.
Q. How are the sales in Malaysia for the XV?
A. We are producing about 5,000 XV’s in Malaysia and from this number 70% are exported to our neighbouring markets, Thailand and Indonesia and the rest are sold in Malaysia.
Q. What is your local content on the XV currently?
A. At the moment it is 40% and we are looking at increasing a little bit more.
Q. What is current sales number for the Forester in Malaysia?
A. At the moment we are selling about 35 units and the demand is for much more but the global demand is not allowing Fuji Heavy Industries (FHI) to supply more units to us.
Q. Which is your best market for the Motor Image group?
A. At the moment Taiwan is our biggest market in the group.
Q. How long does a CKD operation take to start from inception?
A. It takes minimum of 18 months from start to rollout to showrooms launch.
Q. Will there be another Subaru model to be locally assembled?
A. Yes, we are planning to local assemble the Forester. We have started planning for it. We have not fixed the variant and the features that will be offered as yet. Pricing will be very competitive with the other localised SUV’s in the segment.
Q. Are you planning any new variant for the XV?
A. Yes, we already have the Crosstrek which is now selling for RM9k more at RM141,800.00 which comes in the new Tangerine Orange colour and some additional interior features. Then in a few months we are proposing a new XV STI model which will be handling, looks and interior features enhanced with parts from STI and some localised parts. This new version will be launched at a special price that will be disclosed soon.
