TODAY

International car brands are now rampant in Yangon, the economic city of Myanmar, what with country’s transition to a market economy accompanied by car imports. The Cycle & Carriage Automobile Myanmar Co Ltd opened its showroom in Yangon in May 2014, boasting world-renowned brands of Mercedes, Mazda and Fuso legally imported for local distribution. The company is a joint venture with Singapore-based Jardine Cycle & Carriage (JC & C), a subsidiary of Jardine Matheson Group. Its Myanmar Country Manager Mr Chin Kee Min was interviewed by TODAY as follows.

Please relate your work experiences
I had been involved in car industry in Singa-pore for 10 years. Also with Kia and Mitsubi-shi Brands internationally. So my experiences should help, after the local market has been well studied. After Singapore, Malaysia, Viet-nam and Indonesia the JC & C has arrived in Myanmar. We are selling Brand New Cars only.
I want to differentiate between Distributor and Dealer a little. Since the market opened two years ago, car imports have surged and mostly Used cars have been imported, and some Brand New Cars. A Distributor is responsible, more than selling a car, for all the services, like, war-ranty, spare parts, after sales services. And to explain the terms and conditions in case of Used cars. The Distributor tries to strengthen his Brand in the market, through taking the responsibilities, but the Dealer doesn’t. Indeed the Distributor has to invest a lot of money as responsibilities befalling him are: business facilities, brand recognition, after sales service, storage of cars and spare parts, and international standard training of personnel. In Myanmar we are distributing Mercedes-Benz, Mazda and Fuso brands.

What about the current car market in Myanmar?
The car market here is just opening up but it also depends on policy changes. The left traffic lane is in force, but most of the cars in use are right-hand drive. They are especially vulnerable to accidents at night so proper cars should be prescribed. Moreover, rules and regulations as to road use are called for. It should take a long time to achieve road safety to an acceptable extent.

On what criteria did you chose a local partner?
On the best criteria naturally, because Cycle & Carriage has been working under the long-lived Jardine Group. We tried to have a business partner who has transparency, practical know-ledge of business, and is respectful of inter-national standards and local laws. We are satis-fied working with IBTC Chairman U Aung Moe Kyaw, but, mind you, our JV is with his Auto-mobile Century Co Ltd, not IBTC.

What would you suggest to reduce traffic jams?
The question is about road transportation so it is fairly wide. At present traffic lights in town are found to be out of sync, leading to sametime traffic lanes in action, and to traffic jams. That is one problem to solve. The second solution is placement of suitable zebra cross-ings. Then Myanmar has no Bus Lanes so buses and taxis usually make a stop where they could, closing up the traffic lanes. For example in Japan, Taxis and Buses are required to make a stop each at its designated place so the Main road remains free for operation. Moreover urban planning is important, and business districts are to be assigned systematically.

What duties is Country Manager respon-sible for?
My duty is to enhance business with the methods appropriate to Myanmar. Arrived in Myanmar only since last year personnel train-ing and management process were all new to us. We go for international standards but will mainly work with Myanmar-appropriate me-thods. Linking with local entrepreneurs, we will work for improvement of domestic car market and business. For example, our endea-vours will include: how to set a car warranty; maintaining it for long-term use; to show how the use of Original parts prevents against acci-dents; and opening of official Workshops.

What are your main prospective custo-mers, and projections for sale of Merce-des-Benz?
Mercedes is a luxury Brand, that is aimed at successful businessmen. But with different versions in each class we also aim at PMEB, ie Professionals, Managers, Executives and Busi-nessmen also. Thus the middle class is included. With a country’s development comes uplift in living standards and a lot of choices. And the local well-to-do need not go abroad to choose their favourite car brand. Government reforms hopefully accompanied by rising incomes should make for an increase in our sale figures in three years time.

Are more showrooms being planned in other cities?
Yes, they are. Ours in Yangon is the first, as it is the economic city attracting all kinds of people. But in two years time there will be our showrooms in some other cities; then the Jar-dine Cycle & Carriage should be more visible.

How is personnel training going?
Ours is a domestic company aiming at inter-national standards with locally trained people. There are three expatriates only in the three services including the workshop. The rest of personnel are Myanmar nationals. Sharing our experiences, we will turn into a local company.

Please comment on the interesting Models aspect concerned with Merce-des, Mazda and Fuso.
S-class in Mercedes is most well-known, I think. But E-class is gaining favour and we have started introducing it. Besides being luxury, E-class is high tech and good to drive. The GL-Class SUV that is known to many in Myanmar is a luxury Brand that could rival other such brands. Among Mazda cars the best are CS-5 and BD-15. Fuso Canter is considered as suita-ble to the large middle market.

Services for imported cars please
After a car sale we continue with various services. We remain to deal with any emergency arisen in regard of quality. That is our Brand’s promise to customers.

Types of vehicles in the brands of Mer-cedes, Mazda, Fuso?
Thanks to foreign car permits we have Merce-des-Benz Passenger Cars, Mercedes-Benz Com-mercial vehicles, Fuso Trucks and Mazda Passe-nger Cars for sale. The Mercedes has 26 classes.

Significant features of Mercedes – Benz
The Mercedes has dual personality– luxury for comfort as well as sporty for fast driving. Other Brands might have a Face, but Mercedes has two: Sport Face and Exclusive Classic Face. It is famous for good design, luxury and safety. Moreover, Mercedes – Benz’s Sport Car models are SLS AMG, CLS 65 and AGM.

Translated by-Khin Aung (Eng)