Page 10 - TBN-2014-2
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It is now a year since Michal Luberadzki took over at the helm of MAN Truck & Bus Malaysia. The first time we visited him he had been in his new position less than a week. Now, twelve months on, we visited him at MAN’s headquarters in Rawang to find out his plans for taking the company forward in the Malay- sian market.
Truck & Bus News
Michal, you’ve now been in Malaysia for a year. What differences do you see in the challenges that you face in Malaysia compared to your experiences in other parts of the world?
Michal Luberadzki
It seems to me that
the behaviour of cus-
tomers and partners
is similar all over the
world. Everyone com-
plains about the same
Fuel costs, of course are still both stable and low here, which is a huge advantage, making it much easier to budget. However, one of the biggest challenges is that things take longer over here, making the planning cycle more challenging.
In many areas of business in Malaysia there has been great progress but this is not the case in transport. In Europe the mar- ket is driven by leasing and rental, whereas the traditional Asian way of thinking is to own a truck through a loan or hire purchase. In Malaysia there are still issues with permits. Everything takes longer. Europe is also driven by Euro Norms whereas here we are still on Euro 3. As a result, there is less incentive to change. In many ways Asia is still a conservative market.
08 truck & bus news › 2012/2
Truck & Bus News
Michal Luberadzki (right) & Richard Goh
things – bad drivers, the cost of fuel etc.
What are you primary aims for the coming year?
Michal Luberadzki
Of course, our main aim is to increase sales as we need to increase our volume. That said, we had a successful year last year, selling 311 units across both truck and bus sectors. We were particularly successful in the bus market thanks to our contract with Rapid KL. We still, however, need to do some work in terms of aftersales. We have invested in our work- shop, moving to bigger premises and we are actively looking
for partners to help us develop our service network. We want to make sure we are represented in all ar- eas of the country.
Truck & Bus News
Do you have any plans to enter into any new business areas?
Michal Luberadzki
Yes. We are actively working on this. Previously we sold only prime movers but we are now looking at other markets such as refuse trucks, tippers, concrete mixers and the like. We see considerable potential in these markets. One of MAN’s key competences is in special chassis so we will be focusing on this sector in the future. The challenge for us will be to find the right local partners.
Truck & Bus News
What other new products can we expect to see this year?