Bermaz will start by rescuing Peugeot’s After-sales services, 5-year warranty coming soon

If you haven’t heard yet, Bermaz Auto Bhd, the distributor of Mazda cars, have taken over the distributorship of Peugeot along with the management of Citroen and DS’s aftersales services. The first item of their agenda to revive the Peugeot brand is to target the aftersales service.

In a report by Maybank Investment Bank Research, Berjaya Auto Alliance Sdn Bhd (BAASB) - the new joint venture company formed by Bermaz Auto and Berjaya Corp to take over the distributorship of brands under Groupe PSA - will start their journey to restore the Peugeot brand by first improving the aftersales service to attract buyers.

This is part of their immediate strategy to restore confidence in the brand. BAASB will be offering a 5+5-year warranty and free maintenance plan for buyers of new Peugeot vehicles along with a promise of quick service turnaround.

Previously, when Peugeot still operated under Naza Malaysia’s subsidiary, Nasim Sdn Bhd, the brand was constantly plagued by poor aftersales services along with unavailability or expensive spare parts.

Maybank IB quoted that BAASB is optimistic of turning around the Peugeot brand (i.e. perception, credibility, sales, earnings) within a 24-month period. The research house also added that they are positive BAASB will be able to reach its target to quadruple sales to 4,000 units per annum.

Currently, the distributor only has 2 models on sale; the Peugeot 3008 and Peugeot 5008, both are locally assembled (CKD) in Gurun. BAASB has announced plans that they will launch the CKD Peugeot 2008 B-segment SUV to rival the Honda HR-V and Proton X50 by 2021.

In addition to that, Maybank IB also hinted at BAASB’s possibility of expanding its distributorship of other marques under Groupe PSA.

Other than Citroen and DS, Opel and Vauxhall are also part of the Groupe PSA. This is not accounting for all the brands under the company’s new merger with Fiat Chrysler Automobiles to form Stellantis.