Jaguar Land Rover Limited (UK) has agreed to appoint Jaguar Land Rover (Malaysia), a joint venture between Sime Darby Motors and SISMA Auto, as its exclusive importer for Malaysia.
The joint venture was formed via SISMA Auto’s acquisition of a 40% share in Sime Darby Motors’ Land Rover (Malaysia), which will be renamed Jaguar Land Rover (Malaysia). Jaguar Land Rover (Malaysia) will in turn appoint Sime Darby Auto ConneXion and SISMA Auto as dual brand Jaguar Land Rover super dealers across Malaysia. The joint venture takes advantage of more than 50 years of cumulative experience the respective joint venture partners have accumulated with Jaguar and Land Rover in Malaysia.
“Jaguar Land Rover, has delivered its strongest ever full year global sales performance thanks to the introduction of a series of multi award winning new vehicles in 2013. Similarly, 2013 was also a landmark year for both brands in Malaysia, with Jaguar posting their highest ever sales, more than doubling sales versus the previous year and Land Rover surpassing the 1,000 unit mark. Joint local representation of these complementary brands helps optimise local operations. This joint venture between our two long standing Malaysian partners draws upon their passion, energy and the accumulated expertise, whilst also ensuring continuity of service to our valued Malaysian customers”, said Russell Anderson, Managing Director, Jaguar Land Rover, Asia Pacific Importers.
Both Jaguar and Land Rover have announced extensive plans to expand their model line up in the future. With such an exciting line up of new models in the pipeline, both parties have ambitious plans to invest in the development of both brands to the benefit of Jaguar and Land Rover’s existing valued and rapidly growing customer base. The parties also aim to introduce a new generation of Malaysian customers to the brands in the future.
“Our association with the Land Rover brand dates back to 1981 and over the last 2 years we have seen unprecedented sales growth of 400%. The merger of these two brands heralds the next stage of their development in Malaysia. Sime Darby Motors welcomes the opportunity to play our part in replicating the worldwide success of Jaguar Land Rover ”, said Dato’ Lawrence Lee, Managing Director, Sime Darby Motors.
“2014 marks 20 years of SISMA Auto with Jaguar. What better way to celebrate this milestone than to add Land Rover, another iconic British brand to our family. We are excited about the future potential for both brands in Malaysia and look forward to what the next 20 years will hold”, said Syed Khalil, Managing Director, SISMA Auto.
In the meantime, Sime Darby Auto ConneXion and SISMA Auto will modify their single brand facilities to allow them to represent both Jaguar and Land Rover by upgrading Sime Darby Auto ConneXion’s showroom in PJ and Jalan Ipoh and to open a new Jaguar Land Rover Kuala Lumpur City Centre showcase showroom in Menara Worldwide, on Jalan Raja Chulan. SISMA Auto also plans to upgrade its existing Jaguar Glenmarie Service Center to represent both Jaguar and Land Rover.
Apart from that, the company plans to grow the dual brand in major cities across Malaysia, including Kuala Lumpur, Johor Bahru and Penang.
