A closer look at the luxury car market

PHUKET: The exponential increase in the number of cars – particularly high-end ones – in Phuket in the last decade alone, warrants a closer look at some of the factors that make this multi-billion-baht business tick. Millennium Auto, one of the newest luxury car outlets to open on the island, gave an exclusive account of the ins and outs of the business to the Phuket Gazette.

The first choice that any brick-and-mortar business is faced with is where to locate their premises. Factors such as accessibility, business image, parking space and costs are some of the important considerations for choosing a final location. Trends in relocating businesses in Phuket has changed due to several major factors – for Millennium Auto it was the lack of customers.

“Our showroom was originally located at the Outlet Mall, but we weren’t getting the traffic we needed – the resulting sales figures were mediocre. We only sold 40 units during our time there,” Millennium Auto General Manager Viraj Thanissranont told the Gazette.

Master Group Corporation Asia (MGC-Asia), the holding company of Millennium Auto, took over the showroom operations last year.

“The decision to shift our operations to another location yielded positive results. We started operations at our current location the same week that construction on the Bypass Road started,” said Mr Viraj.

“Despite the continued bottlenecks from the bypass construction, there was an enormous increase in our group’s annual sales, which shot up to about 10,000 units within just one year.”

Business image is also a vital consideration for businesses such as Millennium Auto, which cater to high-end clients.

“We have a number of big names under our umbrella, such as Rolls Royce, Aston Martin, BMW and Mini. This is why it is important for us to maintain our service standards and ensure that it is unmatched by any other company in Phuket,” he said.

The dynamic nature of modern business also necessitates that companies must differentiate themselves from others by providing exceptional support functions, in addition to merely offering a product or service.

“We have an additional body repair and paint business, for which we sent our technicians to England to train” said Mr Viraj. “It is important for us to evolve the way we do business in this industry.”

“Due to such factors and more, our customers fight the traffic jams and still show up.”

— Zohaib Sikander