Nissan dealer in JV for car paint, body repair service

The joint venture aims to capture all segments of this market, ranging from grey-market vehicles to general cars.
Managing director Pranai Phornprapha, the third child of Pornpinit Phornprapha, chairman of Siam Motor and Nissan Sales – dealers for Nissan – yesterday said the company had bought technology from SBrand Japan, which is strong in providing quick, good-quality service at an affordable price, to Thailand. It has opened two branches of SBrand car paint and body repair – one on Srinakarin Road, and one at Siam@Siam Hotel, which is run by his family.
He said the company planned to run only two branches for now. It has invested a total of Bt50 million, before expanding to other locations in the next two years. Siam SBrand said it would need two years to train its technicians as this advanced technology is quite new to Thais. The expansion model will be through franchising and direct investment by the company.
“We expect to generate revenue of Bt30 million this year. The business will reach break-even point within six years as we’ve not set a high service fee, while our cost is higher than others. We would like to tap all markets for car paint and body repair, and expect to have 15 branches by 2014,” he said.
Pranai said the company had reached out to grey-market operators to persuade them to pass on the clients in this segment to Siam SBrand. Car paint and body repair are always problems for owners of grey-market vehicles. This is a good channel for the firm to penetrate this segment.
Meanwhile, Siam SBrand has also approached four car-insurance companies, including Viriyah Insurance, to be its partners and recommend clients to its centres. The company claims that the charges of Siam SBrand are about 30-40 per cent lower than other centres providing service to European cars such as Mercedes-Benz.
“Our strength is affordable price, quick service with good quality. This will help us penetrate all the segments that we are targeting,” he said.