PICS: You’ll be amazed at what car showrooms in Singapore look like these days
Passionate about cars and motorsports, Cheryl Tay is a familiar face in prominent local, regional as well as international automotive titles. More of her at CherylTay.sg. and on Facebook, Twitter orInstagram (cheryltay11).
Fancy gourmet coffee, a drinks bar, luxury massage chairs and even complimentary dinner at your convenience? No, we're not talking about airport VIP lounges -- we're talking car showrooms in Singappore.
That's right. Major car distributors in Singapore are pulling out the stops in their effort to go the extra mile for their customers.
Lexus owners can now select their choice of breakfast when sending their cars in at the relatively new Lexus Boutique that was part of Borneo Motors' S$15 million-dollar showroom renovation project (including Toyota World) along Leng Kee Road.
Gourmet coffee brew or massage chairs at the hospitality areas are just some of the other creature comforts available to make the customer feel like a king.
This is all part of the upgrade that the local authorised distributor of Lexus and Toyota has done for its customers.
The two-storey Lexus Boutique has a showroom floor over four times bigger than before, displaying up to 24 cars, while the double-storey Toyota World has increased its showroom area by twofold to hold up to 25 cars.
iTRUST, a locally-developed iPad app, was designed to cater to customers’ individual servicing needs and was launched along with an Evening Express Programme for convenient 45-minute servicing on weekdays that comes with complimentary dinner and a back massage.
The opening of the Lexus Boutique and Toyota World back in June is only one of four major car showroom openings (and re-openings) over the past 12 months.
The Audi Centre Singapore last December, the spanking, sprawling Eurokars City Centre in March this year, and the newly-renovated Ferrari showroom in September are just some other examples of ultra-modern, ultra-sophisticated spaces that have sprung up around the famed Leng Kee/Alexandra Road car shopping belt.
Long gone are the days of sweaty customers waiting in greasy garages waiting for their new car to arrive or to be tuned or fixed up -- car companies are investing millions in sprucing up their showrooms to improve the car shopping experience for customers, as well as to boost brand image.
For example, the Eurokars City Centre -- housing Rolls-Royce, Porsche and MINI -- was built at a cost of a cool $42 million and took two years to complete.
At 42 metres tall (equivalent to 11 HDB floors), it is the tallest building on the prime Leng Kee automotive belt, standing out especially with its LED light façade.
A provider of premium automobiles in Singapore for near three decades, Eurokars Group currently representing Rolls-Royce, Porsche, MINI, Saab and Mazda.
In 2009, the decision was made to “break ground and rebuild the Eurokars City Centre from the ground up, to improve service and ownership experience”, according to Karsono Kwee, chairman of Eurokars Group.
Within this building are two car lifts, basement and rooftop parking, personalisation areas for cars, a larger aftersales department and an indoor bar next to an outdoor patio area.
Occupying two levels is Rolls-Royce – the biggest in South East Asia – that holds up to eight cars.
Although overall car sales are slowing due to factors such as high COE loans and tighter loan regulations, local Ferrari authorised distributor Ital Auto spent $2 million to revamp their showroom recently.
The 13,000 square-feet showroom went through a two-month renovation and was launched in September with a brief appearance by Scuderia Ferrari Formula One driver Felipe Massa.
The Business Times reported the renovation was worth it because “the Ferrari business is viable” as “the brand is very strong” and they are “not afraid to invest for the future”.
A new feature is the Atelier, which is a dedicated facility for Ferrari owners to customise their cars right down to the racing seats, seat belts, steering wheels, brake callipers, leather and paint samples.
Other new features of the Ferrari showroom include a new customer lounge area, a redesigned aftersales reception area and increased workshop capacity of 10 per cent, to accommodate five cars.
The showroom is also the first place outside of Italy to retail the new Ferrari PR1MA Lifestyle merchandise collection, which is priced up to three times more than the ordinary range.
