A couple of weeks back, the rumour started that Naza Italia was set to lose its import and distribution rights for Ferrari in Malaysia, and now, it has been confirmed that the brand will have new a new distributor representing it here in the near future.
Having reached out to Ferrari Far East (FFE) on the matter earlier today, the company issued the following reply. “Ferrari S.p.A has announced the cessation of the business partnership between Ferrari S.p.A. and Naza Italia (Ferrari Malaysia) effective April 8, 2023. Naza Italia will continue to fulfill its responsibilities to customers for sales and aftersales activities until then,” a spokesperson for FFE said in the written reply.
“During this handover period, Ferrari S.p.A. will establish a point of contact for sales and aftersales-related issues for our customers until we confirm our new partner,” the statement added.
“Acknowledging the contribution that Naza Italia has made towards the success of the brand in Malaysia, Ferrari explained this decision reflects its desire to renew the brand representation in the market. Ferrari is committed to Malaysia, and will continue to meet strong demand in the local market and closely engage with its customers there,” the statement concluded.
The company did not comment when asked who its new Malaysian partner would be, but a host of names have been circulating about on the grapevine, many of them familiar to the scene. These include two Malaysian companies having a relationship with Ferrari through dealerships, albeit not in Malaysia – Sime Darby in Australia and Berjaya, through its H.R. Owen automotive retail arm in the UK.
The latter is rumoured to be one of the front runners, but another leading contender that has also been mentioned is Ital Auto, which has been the Ferrari importer in Singapore since 2009. Ital is part of the multi-franchise Komoco group owned by Singapore-based Malaysian billionaire Ong Beng Seng. Besides Ferrari, Komoco handles automotive brands such as Hyundai and Maserati in the republic.
Separately, it has also been revealed that Naza, which has held the Ferrari distribution in Malaysia since 2008, will continue to represent Maserati in the country. Aside from Maserati, the Naza group has Ducati (Next Bikes) and Suzuki (Naza Eastern Motors) as its remaining automotive brands.
The post Naza Italia to end its Ferrari distributorship on April 8 – Berjaya, Sime Darby, Ital Auto heads “new” rumour list appeared first on Paul Tan's Automotive News.
* This article was originally published here
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