DS luxury brand arrives
FRENCH luxury car brand DS Automobiles, whose vehicles are distributed in Malaysia by Naza Euro Motors Sdn Bhd, has opened its first DS Store in the country as well as in Southeast Asia.
The DS Store launch in Naza Automall, Petaling Jaya last week were attended by chief executive officer of DS Automobiles, Yves Bonnefont; Ambassador of France to Malaysia, Frédéric Laplanche; head of Asean – chief executive officer of Naza Automotive Manufacturing, Groupe PSA, Laurence Noel; Group Executive Chairman, Naza Corporation Holdings, SM Nasarudin SM Nasimuddin and group chief executive officer, Automotive Group, Naza Corporation Holdings Datuk Samson Anand George.
The flagship store was set up with an initial investment of RM2mil and plans are underway to invest another RM5mil for marketing and operations in 2019.
The DS Store has a floor space of 3,230 sq ft and the capacity to display three cars at any one time and offers 3S facilities for the convenience of DS owners.
The store is also designed for existing and new customers to better understand the DS brand through its French heritage.
Currently on display is the new DS 7 Crossback, which will go on sale early next year.
Firstly though, the plan is to familiarise the new luxury brand to the public.
“What we want to do first is to establish the brand and help Malaysians and customers understand what the brand stands for.
“It is very important because we are a new brand; we were founded in 2015, so it’s only been three years,” said Bonnefont in an interview.
He recognises that while French luxury brands such as LV and Hermes are some of the most wellknown in the world, the French automotive luxury brand is only at its infancy.
“In the automotive industry, we need to help people understand what DS is and that is to uncover all the know-how of the French luxury industry into a car and combine it with the latest technology to create a unique mix of technology and refinement which is what DS stands for.
“This is one of the reasons why the DS Store was set up to get people to know the brand better.
“Another method is to give potential customers a longer period of test driving a DS vehicle.
“We want to introduce what we call long-term test drive so people can test drive the car maybe for a full day.
“They can experience the car and return it at the end of the day and hopefully by then, they will place an order.”
As such, Malaysians can now look forward to the new DS 7 Crossback SUV.
“The DS 7 should come pretty soon. We are now in the process of finalising the price and customers would be able to order the SUV during the first weeks of January.”
And there are more cars to come from DS Automobiles.
“The promise of the brand is to introduce one new product every year. This is our global product plan. The DS 3 Crossback which was presented at this year’s Paris Motor Show will hit the market in different regions in 2019.
“So the DS 3 Crossback will come later,” said Bonnefont.