PTP scores once again
Media Corp.
Bayerische Motoren Werke AG (BMW), the world's No 2 luxury car-maker, will relocate its parts centre from Singapore to the Port of Tanjung Pelepas (PTP) in Johor, Bloomberg News reported yesterday.
Its 10,000-sq-m Regional Parts Distribution Centre at the Sembawang Wharves is currently operated by Cougar Express Logistics, a unit of the mainboard listed Singapore Shipping Corporation and Mitsui OSK Lines of Japan.
"We expect to continue using Cougar as our service provider," Mr Ramesh Divyanathan, BMW Asia's regional manager for corporate affairs, told Today. BMW Asia has been using Cougar Express since 1996.
Mr Divyanathan said BMW's relocation to PTP, which will become the company's Asia-Pacific warehouse, was prompted by a conscious strategic decision rather than cost savings.
The Malaysian car market is much larger than Singapore's and "we always move to the market where the potential is stronger", he said.
Last year, BMW sold 78,500 vehicles in Asia. Sales in Malaysia reached 2,368 units, just beating Singapore's figure of 2,285.
BMW expects to double sales in Asia in five years to 150,000 units.
The company has also formed a new distribution venture with Sime Darby Bhd that will give it more control and a larger share of sales in Malaysia, Bloomberg News reported.
It said it would hold 51 per cent in the wholesale distribution venture, called BMW Malaysia Sdn, while Sime's unit, Tractors Malaysia Holdings Bhd, will own the rest.
The move "allows us to further develop the BMW group in Malaysia into a new phase to take advantage of the great long-term potential here", the company said.
It will spend as much as US$24 million ($42 million) on its Malaysian projects, which include forming two regional centres to handle its information technology and parts businesses, Bloomberg News reported