We interview Jetour International Vice President, Mr. Kevin Zhu, here is what he said
So at the Malaysia Autoshow 2024, we sat down with Mr. Kevin Zhu, Vice president of Jetour International (Asia Pacific) to find out the answers to all your burning questions. Without further ado, here is what he had to say, starting with his response to whether Jetour plans to assemble their cars locally or somewhere else in ASEAN.
Mr. Zhu responded by saying Jetour considers Malaysia a very important hub in ASEAN so for now, the brand will be pushing for local assembly to export to other ASEAN countries. While Jetour has already set up its ASEAN assembly plants, it still needs approval from the local Government before it can officially set up shop here in Malaysia.
Moreover, we also asked Mr. Zhu how many dealers Jetour has in Malaysia at the moment and if there were any in East Malaysia. Mr. Zhu then confirmed that while there were no dealerships currently up and running, the brand has received more than 20 applications so far, including some from Sabah and Sarawak to be the new Jetour dealers here in Malaysia.
Mr. Zhu also stated that Jetour is still actively reviewing all the applications it has received to see which dealers have values and practices that align with the uniqueness and strategy of the Chinese automaker and he also encouraged any other dealers looking to expand.
On top of that, when asked if Jetour would be working with Chery in Malaysia or independently, Mr. Zhu stressed that part of the reason why the brand still has no active dealerships is because despite Jetour being under the umbrella of the Chery brand, it works mostly independently in overseas markets and is doing the same thing in Malaysia.
Mr. Zhu says this is because Jetour caters to its core customers in a very unique way and does not want any interference in its customer satisfaction. He added that Jetour is applying the same principle here by bringing in the 7-seater version of the X70+ to cater to local families and by designing the Dashing SUV based on what the younger crowd prioritises like ADAS and tech.
Lastly, we asked if Jetour dealers would be allowed to be Proton dealers and vice versa to which Mr. Zhu said that Jetour remains open to all dealers to apply and the brand will work with them as long as they recognize Jetour’s market value and uniqueness to find some common ground, so any dealer could be a Jetour dealer.
