For the first half of 2018, Mercedes-Benz Malaysia has basically affirmed its luxury lifestyle experience by offering fascinating products, inspiring service and passionate brand experience to their customers. The premium brand delivered 6,790 units to its customers in the first half of 2018 which is a 15 per cent increase over the same period in the previous year and a new best ever result for the first half of a year.
Aside from that, in terms of its Aftersales, now known as Customer Services at Mercedes-Benz emphasises care for the customer at the forefront with a renewed focus on the customer journey. Their commitment towards being customer-centric has basically ensured that Mercedes-Benz Malaysia maintains its market leadership position in 2018 with market share of 2.5 per cent and they are also positive that it will continue throughout the rest of the year.
Mercedes-Benz Malaysia (MBM) underlines their leading position in the premium automobile market here in Malaysia. According to them, this position has been attributed to delivering the Best Products, the Best Services and nothing but the Best Customer Experience. With a renewed focus on the customer journey, MBM continues to deliver the utmost in customer care aligned with placing the customer at the center of all activities.
Mercedes-Benz Malaysia, President and CEO, Dr Claus Weidner. said, “Care for the customer is a core principle for us at Mercedes-Benz Malaysia. Our rebranding of the aftersales department as Customer Services is thus a natural continuation of our long-term strategy of keeping our customers at the centre of our activities. Together with our extensive, professional and strategically expanding dealer network, we consistently place a significant focus on the customer journey.”
The Sales Report Card
Mercedes-Benz Malaysia delivered 6,790 vehicles in the first half of 2018. This was a 15 per cent increase over the same period in 2017 while a market share of 2.5 per cent in total for 1st half 2018 recorded an improvement of 0.2 per cent from the 1st half of 2017.
The Mercedes-Benz C-, E-, and S-Class, recorded a total of 4,322 units sold whilst MBM’s range of premium compact cars comprising the Mercedes-Benz A-Class, B-Class, GLA-Class and CLA-Class recorded 996 units sold. These two segments recorded increases of 18 per cent and 20 per cent respectively compared to the same period last year.
The brand's Premium SUV range (with the GLC, GLE) recorded 1,291 units sold. This is a 4 per cent increase compared to the same period in 2017 making SUVs an important sales category now as they seem to outsell the entry level premium compact cars - note that the GLA is also a SUV/Crossover making this category the up and coming one to watch.
The Mercedes-Benz Dream Cars collection (the sports cars and the AMG lineup) also recorded a notable achievement with 181 units sold, marking a 1 per cent increase compared to the 1st half of 2017.
This year, Mercedes-Benz Malaysia have to date launched a pair of locally-assembled high performance automobiles, the Mercedes-AMG C 43 and Mercedes-AMG GLC 43. Supporting this introduction was the first AMG Brand Training for sales and Customer Services outside of Germany recently - demonstrating the increasing commitment in offering comprehensive support for the World’s Fastest Family as well as hinting to us the importance of the Malaysian market to the brand.
The launch of the EQ brand for their electrified vehicles shows a concerted effort towards future mobility which saw the re-designation of the C 350 e and E 350 e plug-in hybrids as EQ Power models alongside further expansion of the EQ charging network.
Aside from just offering their vehicles for sale, MBM has also offered exclusive experiences to complement the best products and services. MBM hosted a number of lifestyle activities for customers which included the Mercedes-Benz EQ Brand Exhibition, which saw the Malaysian and regional premiere of the Mercedes-Benz Concept EQ car. MBM also had their Mercedes-Benz Fashion Week Kuala Lumpur (MBFWKL) which marked Kuala Lumpur joining the elite circuit of Mercedes-Benz fashion week events in New York, London, Paris & Milan.
Then there were the 28th edition of the MercedesTrophy golf tournament and Mercedes-Benz Driving Experience at the Sepang International Circuit as well as this year’s edition of Hungry for Adventure allowed participants an opportunity to take the Premium SUV range by Mercedes-Benz into the natural wonder of Taman Negara. The third annual Ultra Music Festival in Singapore hosted fans of EDM and the Mercedes-Benz family of progressive and premium compact cars rounded the promotional events for this half of 2018.
Aftersales / Customer Services
But sales alone does not make a car brand great. It is usually taking extra care for the customer's needs after a vehicle is purchased is usually the most important item as it covers the longest period of car ownership. Selling a car to a customer is one things, but maintaining it for the customer is paramount. So now, Customer Services, a rebranding of Mercedes-Benz’s Aftersales department, consistently extends its commitment to the market with the necessary presence, coverage and capacity alongside skilled talent to deliver the best
Care to Mercedes-Benz customers and fans.
MBM currently has a total of 31 service centres with 5 body and paint centres nationwide. These centres are represented by over 480 highly-trained staff to deliver superior customer service. Aside from having experienced manpower, MBM also states that they are also committed to creating Experience beyond Expectation with products and packages.
Customer Services have now announced their latest maintenance packages with replacement of certain wear and tear parts as an optional inclusion. These are the Compact Maintenance and Agility Compact packages for the first four years of ownership, while the StarCare Maintenance Package is available for the 5th, 6th and 7th year of ownership.The scope of these packages can be individually tailored for a set list of wear and tear parts, creating the Compact Plus Maintenance, Agility Compact Plus and now, the StarCare Maintenance Plus Packages Extended limited warranty is now available for purchase for the 5th or 5th and 6th year of vehicle ownership.
This uniquely tailored package is aimed at ensuring Mercedes-Benz vehicles outside the standard warranty period provided upon vehicle purchase are carefully maintained for optimum running condition and safe motoring.
Additionally, Customer Services proudly announced the graduation of the Mechatronic 13 class of 2018 from the Mercedes-Benz Malaysia Training Academy. As of now, a milestone figure of 827 trainees have graduated from Mercedes-Benz Malaysia’s local vocational training programmes alongside ongoing C-management certification.
In the first half of 2018, the dealer network registered a service volume of 71,650 in 31 service centers, an increase of 16 per cent over the previous year, while continuing to uphold the highest standards of Customer Satisfaction Index (CSI) which are a benchmark in Southeast Asia. This shows that MBM aftersales, aka Customer Services has basically been keeping up with the additional cars sold by them. Additional cars means additional volume for regular servicing, especially when these cars are under warranty and have to be serviced by an authorised dealer.
These new customer service programmes go hand in hand with Mercedes-Benz Malaysia's continued push to upgrade, diversify and expand their customer touchpoints. They have recently launched the upgraded NZ Wheels Klang Autohaus, Auto Commerz Service Centre and Hap Seng Star Puchong South Autohaus. The launch of the interim Auto Commerz Service Centre, which also offers Service Differentiation, was followed up by the Service Clinic program which took place in NZ Wheels Klang in May 2018, Hap Seng Star Iskandar in June 2018 and due to be carried out at the Auto Commerz service centre in September 2018.
Aside from the above, MBM recently expanded its network to include the Hap Seng Star Puchong South Autohaus, a 3S centre which brings the Hap Seng Star presence in Malaysia to a total of 10 locations. The total network coverage of Mercedes-Benz stands at 34 Autohauses, which makes it the largest premium network coverage in the country.
Mercedes-Benz Services Malaysia (Customer Financing and more)
Another branch of MBM is Mercedes-Benz Services Malaysia (MBSM), which recently celebrated the five- year anniversary of providing tailored financial and insurance solutions, MBSM has continued its growth trajectory in the first half of 2018 with a serviced portfolio of over RM 2.5 billion and continues to finance and insure 4 out of 10 Mercedes-Benz cars sold in Malaysia. In addition, MBSM has further expanded its product offerings by launching Drive 360 Plans that combine Agility financing, service packages and insurance in one simple monthly payment.
What MBSM does is enhance and add to the current service standard of finance and insurance products. Now, customer car loan decisions at MBSM can be undertaken in seconds through the implementation of a newly automated underwriting process for loan applications upon receipt of a complete set of required documents. MBSM has reported that within one month of introduction of this service, MBSM was processing 15 per cent of applications via this efficient and convenient method.
MBSM recently issued a RM 3 billion corporate bond program in Malaysia. MBSM received a credit rating of AAA by the independent credit rating agency RAM and its first issuance of RM 250 million of the bond program has been comprehensively taken up by local investors. The issuance of the bond was to diversify its funding sources in anticipation of further growth prospects in the local market. It also shows the confidence that Mercedes-Benz has in Malaysia and the potential of in-house financing here.
From what we have been shown, it goes to show that MBM's long term strategy is to cover all aspects of the customer experience. Their holistic approach to Mercedes-Benz car ownership is as complete as it gets and with every performance briefing we attend, we see MBM try come up with new products which they think would suit their customers both in the short and long terms. It actually tells you why such a premium brand can actually hold a 2.5% market share.
“The concerted efforts into improving customer services along the ownership journey, together with our growing locally-assembled portfolio, enhanced and innovative customer touchpoints and lifestyle experiences form a holistic endeavour to achieve ever higher customer satisfaction. Our market leadership is not the ultimate goal, rather the credible result of this focus and the fulfilment of of our premium luxury claim. Care for the customer is of utmost importance, falling in line with our efforts to deliver nothing but the Best Customer Experience,” added Dr Weidner.
*The numbers for 1H 2018 are unaudited and subject to change.
From left: Mercedes-Benz Services Malaysia, Managing Director, Mr Mike Ponnaz; Mercedes-Benz Malaysia, Vice President, Sales and Marketing, Mr Mark Raine; President and CEO, Dr Claus Weidner and; Vice President, Customer Services, Mercedes-Benz Cars, Mr Heinrich Schromm.
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