Thursday, July 23, 2009

End of the 2 series in Malaysia


We have seen the Bestari/Peugeot 206 for a while already here in Malaysia. This will be the end of this series once they complete pushing the rest of the stock out. We will not be seeing the 207 coming to Malaysian shores which was planned earlier.
Peugeot Malaysia is looking at positioning its brand as up market rather than trying to compete with the other brands in the entry/mass level sector. Yes, they will sell less cars but since they don't have many service centres either, it would be a wise move to concentrate in giving the best service to the upper market cars like the 308 and 407, rather than they spread their resources towards a mass market where they are struggling to do a good service/warranty job.
Having said that, the 206 is a great car. Its proven to be really good in corners/handling and a great comfortable car to drive compared to the Malaysian/Korean and Japanese rivals. Unfortunately, good cars don't make a good brand. Branding is all about perception of the customer. 
There is no doubt that a lot of people know that the Peugeot cars are good. They are still asking about spare parts, customer service, quality of the Service Centre etc. This is something that cannot be built overnight. Rome was not built in a day. It would be a great move by Nasim to start working on quality, rather than quantity! 

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