Ferrari, Maserati, Perodua — Naza aims to cater for all

ifanonline · Post time 3-2-2010 12:04 PM

Post Last Edit by ifanonline at 3-2-2010 12:06

Ferrari, Maserati, Perodua — Naza aims to cater for all

Need a car, any car really... Faisal at his showroom. - Picture by Jack Ooi

By Lee Wei Lian
PETALING JAYA, Feb 3 — The Naza group of companies may be well knownfor carrying high end auto brands — it opened the largest Ferrarishowroom outside of Italy in Petaling Jaya last year — but it has alsobeen actively expanding its demographic reach by signing on to sellPerodua cars and most recently the US mid-tier brand, Chevrolet.
Naza is aiming to redefine the way cars are bought and sold inMalaysia by carrying numerous brands catering for various income andage brackets under one roof says Datuk SM Faisal SM Nasimuddin, thejoint executive chairman of the Naza group of companies, CEO and eldestson of its late founder Tan Sri SM Nasimuddin SM Amin.
“Staying true to what my late father believed, we’d like to be a onestop centre to provide automotive lifestyles from two wheels to fourwheels, from the entry level to the highest point,” said Faisal in arecent interview with The Malaysian Insider. ”When it comesto cars and bikes, it’s not about sales per se, it’s about buildingrelationship with customers. We’re the only automotive company thatprovides a multitude of makes, brands and choices that will suit everysingle Malaysian. We want to be involved in every stage of their life,”

This is Naza World... - Picture by Jack Ooi

Buildingrelationships, an idea associated more with banks than with cardealerships, is a central theme to Naza. The idea is to start customersoff with an entry level model, perhaps a Perodua or a scooter andgradually sell upgrades to more expensive and aspiration makes —Ducatis and Harleys or BMWs and Bentleys — as the customers, hopefully,grow wealthier.“We have cases where a customer who bought a Mazda 323 from my latefather are now buying Bentleys from us,” said Faisal and adds that hetreats customers as his business partners, as some of them not only dobusiness with other Naza related companies, but also buy cars from him.
He also stresses the importance of good service, even providing concierge services for customers of their higher end models.
A person who buys a Maserati, for example, will be flown to thefactory in Italy where he, or she, can customise the car while it isstill on the production line. After that it is off to a race track fora defensive driving course, and finally, the owner will be invited tohobnob at exclusive events for Maserati owners.
“At these events, they can network and meet other businessmen andinfluential people who have these kinds of cars and not only that, Nazaalso helps grow their businesses. We treat all our customers asbusiness partners. They are successful in their own field. The trust isthere. We all love cars. We sit down and we talk about cars and then wetalk about other things,” said Faisal.

This is the good life... Ferrari's at the largest showroom outside Italy, Petaling Jaya of course. - Picture by Jack Ooi

Fortunatelyfor Naza, the luxury car sector, like other luxury sectors, is also aniche that is fairly immune from economic slowdowns.“In fact our Ferrari’s, Maserati’s, and Brabus’ have a waitinglist,” said Faisal. “The luxury sector will command a certain followingfrom certain demographics. Let’s say they are affected by a slowdown inthe economy. This means they will lose some of their fortune but theywill still be able to buy. Cars are also an extension for theindividual.”
Faisal declines to discuss Naza’s financials but says that it islooking into expanding into new sectors including oil and gas,telecommunications and ancillary services with the aim of growing intoa bumi-owned large conglomerate.
The company is also keeping an eye on the trend of eco-friendly cars— it even brought in and sold some used hybrid Estimas last year.
“It’s quite exciting but for us to be in this business, thestructure must be implemented by the government. If you want to havehydrogen fuel cars, you need to have hydrogen stations where you canrefuel. It’s an infrastructure business as well. We’ve seen thecommitment the prime minister made in Copenhagen. For us we will seehow we can help him deliver,” said Faisal.
Apart from expanding into new sectors, Faisal says that the companyis also in the midst of consolidating operations within Naza and isworking with the Motorola University to help with human resourceprogrammes such as deployment and retooling of human capital andsuccession planning.
“Business is about people. As with my late father’s vision, we wantNaza to be the destination for the best talents in town and grow alongthe likes of Docomo in Japan. Docomo created that wow factor so peoplewanted to be part of that brand name Docomo. That’s what we want aswell with Naza. We’ve also hired some professionals from multinationalsto kickstart new areas of development.”
He adds that he wants Naza to be an entrepreneurship driven entity with governance.
“There is still some fluidity in strategy and decisions. We want tomake sure the legacy of my late father remains in the group,” saidFaisal.
As for his take on the state of entrepreneurship in the country, thethirty year old father of two says that Malaysians of his generation“are very sour, very negative and blame a lot of things rather thanthemselves.”

Faisal explains the Naza experience to building an auto retail business. - Picture by Jack Ooi

“Thereare a lot of things happening in the world,” he notes. “If you travelaround, you can see the Eastern Europeans are very aggressive. With thelimited resources they have they are actually building something. Interms of knowledge I think they will be the next superpower.”He recalls the time, when at age 18, he used the money he earneddoing a side business while in a US college, to fly to Germany and bidfor the Brabus franchise after being influenced by the “nouveau richAsians” in the US.
“I bought myself a suit and flew to Germany and presented my case. Istill remember the look on Brabus owner Professor Bodo Buschmann’s facewhen he saw me. I think he gave me the franchise out of pity I think,although our business model makes sense,” said Faisal with a laugh.“Now we’ve represented them for 11 years already. My suit, briefcaseand laptop, that’s all I had. I didn’t even convert my money (forallowance), it was point to point.”
He thinks the apathy of Malaysians has something to do with the education system which stresses examinations over project work.
“Our education system teaches us you have to score as many A’s aspossible but I believe in the American system where they get you toparticipate, to explain yourself and do practical work,” he said. “Asan employer, I am always looking for what value add you can put on thetable. But these things are not being taught. Character building is notthere. I am a parent as well and I’m quite concerned.”
His advice to entrepreneurs? “If you feel you don’t enjoy something,don’t do it. You have to set your mind to the things you want to do.Don’t think, just get it done. There are a lot of me-toos out there.You should think of original things. Work hard and be less dependent onpeople and know your business.”
Faisal is coy about what car he drives or what are his favouritemakes but does share his ultimate goal which is to own the 250 GTOFerrari — recently auctioned off for