EDARAN Tan Chong Motor Sdn Bhd (ETCM), the sales and marketing arm of Nissan vehicles in Malaysia, is confident of maintaining its current growth momentum via core and proven models.
"We also plan to introduce two new models," said executive director Datuk Dr Ang Bon Beng at a media appreciation lunch held in conjunction with the Chinese New Year celebrations here Wednesday.
Ang described 2009 as "a very challenging year" for ETCM.
"This due to the effects of economic downturn and aggravated by the fact that we did not launch any new completely knocked down (CKD) model," he said.
He said that Nissan managed to capture a 5.5 per cent market share, an improvement from 2008 when its market share was 5.2 per cent. ETCM has been acknowledged by Japan's Nissan Motor Co Ltd as a "Nissan Champion Distributor", an honour earned by only seven out of 67 Nissan national sales companies in the overseas market.
"The Nissan Grand Livina was the top-selling non-national 3-row multi-purpose vehicle (MPV), commanding 38 per cent share of the non-national MPV market and 20 per cent overall MPV market share," Ang said. He said the Nissan Urvan was the top-selling diesel window van, commanding 30 per cent share of the market.
"Our models earned various awards in their respective categories and also in terms of fuel efficiency," he added. According to him, the increased market share and numerous awards won by the Nissan range of new models signified the growing market acceptance of its products.
On the total industry volume, Ang said it was projected to be between 545,000 and 550,000 units this year, with the MPV expected to be the growth segment. He said that regionally, the company planned to expand its presence in the Indochina. "We have started operations in Cambodia and are taking necessary steps to penetrate other markets, in particular Laos," he added. - BERNAMA
