Tan Chong to boost Subaru branding

Tan Chong Group, through its wholly-owned subsidiary, Motor Image Group, will embark on a major branding exercise to widen Subaru's presence in Malaysia.

Glenn Tan, Executive Director of Tan Chong International, said many in
Malaysia viewed the Subaru as a very small brand as such a branding exercise was very necessary.

"We are going to change that, we are going to have a lot of new advertising
and promotion campaigns.

"We will work with Astro and seriously look at alliances to widen the Subaru
brand in the next 18 months," said Tan, who is also Group Chief Executive of
Motor Image, the Tan Chong arm handling Subaru in the region.

On July 6, Fuji Heavy Industries Ltd entered into a memorandum of
understanding with Tan Chong Group to assemble Subaru compact sports utility
vehicles (SUVs) in Malaysia.

The locally-produced SUV, will be marketed in Malaysia, Thailand and
Indonesia through the Subaru sales and distribution network of Tan Chong Group.

"Before we even launch the model (SUVs), we will significantly build the
brand to change people's perception. That is a very important," he
explained.

Tan said Tan Chong was now trying to expand in the Asean region and would
become the first company to work with a Japanese manufacturer to extend into the region from Malaysia.

He said Malaysia has the highest passenger car market.

"Malaysia has great potential, we want to make sure Malaysians will know our brand well. We have been selling Subaru cars since the 80's. After a long gap we are coming in a big way.

"Usually people tend to export the car from Thailand into Malaysia or from
Indonesia to Malaysia, now we are doing from Malaysia out to Thailand and
Indonesia. We will expand our network distribution into the Asean region by
10 times the number of outlets we have for Subaru distribution into the three
countries," he said.

Tan said the vehicle would be launched worldwide either at the end or
beginning of next year.

On group sales, he said: "Last year, the biggest growth was recorded in
China. We sold about 13,000 units in 2010 and this year we hope China, Taiwan and Phillipines will still contribute significant numbers."

However, for this year, Tan said the number may be less than last year
due to a disruption in the production following the tsunami.

"We hope once the supply chain resumes, we can increase the volume," he
said.

Based on the Subaru XV concept, Tan expects the first SUV to roll out in
October 2012 with a capacity of 5,000 units a year. -- BERNAMA