New Taiwanese automotive company Luxgen is eyeing up Oman as a 'focus country' to showcase the potential of its brand in the rest of the Middle East after Mohsin Haider Darwish (MHD) became the company's first international distributor in 2010, according to K C Hu, chief executive of Luxgen.
Since signing the agreement in April 2010 with MHD, following its appearance at the Dubai International Motor Show, two Luxgen models - the Luxgen7 MPV and the Luxgen7 SUV - have been on sale in Oman since late 2010, with its exclusive showroom in Azaiba expected to be ready by February 2012.
The three-year-old company is part of the Yulon Group in Taiwan, which has been making cars and car parts since 1953 for a wide variety of car brands, such as Nissan, Mitsubishi, General Motors and Mercedes Benz.
Speaking at the Taipei launch of its new Luxgen5 sedan, Hu told Muscat Daily that building brand awareness is the company's current priority for the region.
He said, "For countries like Oman and Syria, sales volume is not too important at this moment. Brand reputation and brand awareness are probably the key right now."
Hu added that countries with strong local automotive industries, such as South Korea and Japan, are not priorities for the fledgling Luxgen brand, preferring instead to build awareness around 'core' countries such as Vietnam in South East Asia and the Dominican Republic in Central America and South America.
He said, "We are very ambitious, but we are still new and small. So if a market doesn't have a very strong local automotive industry then maybe we will have a better chance to enter the market.
"If we are successful in a core country we will be noticed in neighbouring markets. My philosophy is for one country to become a focus country for the area, like Oman or Dubai in UAE."
David Aziz, director of automotive products at MHD, added that the Luxgen brand has been well received in the sultanate despite not being marketed or having a showroom, with strong sales and brand awareness a key focus for next year. He said, "We are already selling them without a showroom and people have been very happy with the product, especially the SUV.
"We would like to see the product being acknowledged in the media and the market. We are also planning some outdoor displays."
© Muscat Daily 2011
