MALAYAN Motors has spent more than $3 million to convert part of its Leng Kee Road property for joint representation of the Jaguar and Land Rover brands.
The new showroom will be the first in Asia to house the two British marques together according to full corporate identity standards.
Malayan Motors has been the distributor for Jaguar here since 1970, while Sime Darby held Land Rover from the mid-1980s.
Because Tata prefers both brands to be handled by one representative, Land Rover moved over to Malayan Motors at the start of this month.
Malayan Motors is part of the mainboard-listed Wearnes Group and also holds the Bentley franchise.
To prepare for the combined Jaguar Land Rover entity, the company renovated almost 10,000 sq ft of showroom to incorporate new customer, sales and after-sales areas.
The showroom is open but the full Land Rover range will only be in from the middle of this month.
"The key objective is to offer outstanding customer service and provide a seamless transition during the transfer of responsibility," said Alice Jones, Land Rover's regional manager for overseas operations.
Ms Jones, who was in town last week to oversee the move, said Land Rover will showcase its new 2010 Model Year products over the next few months.
"Land Rover has confirmed that a production version of the LRX concept car will be built," she said.
The new car will debut at Paris Motor Show later this year and join the Range Rover line-up in 2011.
"Designed and engineered at Land Rover's state-of-the-art Gaydon facility, the new Range Rover will be the smallest, lightest and most efficient Range Rover ever produced." Ms Jones said.
Land Rover used to be part of the Ford group before it was sold with Jaguar to Tata.
"It is vital for our future competitiveness that we maintain a focus on product development," said Ms Jones. "We are currently investing 800 million pounds (S$1.7 billion), with Jaguar Cars, to develop new environmental technologies. Tata is like a nurturing parent and are fully supportive of our plans."
In March this year, Land Rover achieved record global sales of more than 24,000 vehicles - 43.1 per cent more than a year back.
It has done better in most markets, particularly Europe and emerging markets.
China had its best quarter ever, with sales up 192 per cent year on year, while sales in Korea have risen 149 per cent.
The UK remains the largest market for Land Rover, with North America second and China third.
By Samuel Ee
