Land Rover gets new exclusive distributor

By Cheranka Mendis

The Sri Lankan military’s ‘vehicle of the choice’ and a top European luxury brand in the country, Land Rover yesterday received a new lease of life with the brand being exclusively distributed under SML Frontier Automotive, a company formed in a 50:50 partnership between Sathosa Motors PLC and Sheran Fernando.

In addition to brand expansion, the new company is also in the process of setting up an assembly plant for durable Land Rover Defenders in Hambantota in the near future as well as a new state-of-the-art workshop for Land Rover after sales services by Q3 this year.

The brand was previously distributed under Frontier Automotive, of which Sheran Fernando was the CEO. He is the Managing Director of the new company. A public quoted company, Sathosa Motors is the sole agent for the world-renowned Isuzu commercial vehicles in the country. Access Engineering holds 86% of Sathosa Motors shares.

The new company combines the financial strength and management support of the public quoted company and the dynamism from Fernando’s team, and is expected to drive forward the brand further within the Sri Lankan market even though the change will be seamless for the existing customer base.

“Land Rover has always had a good market in Sri Lanka. It is among the top five European vehicles in the country and has enjoyed the status of being the number one European manufacture in Sri Lanka for the past five years,” Fernando told the Daily FT.

Announcing the partnership, SML Frontier Automotive Chairman Sumal Perera noted that obtaining the Land Rover dealership was part of a series of steps taken to realise synergies as well as revitalise operations of Sathosa Motors. “We are very excited about the partnership,” Perera said. “This is a step to expand out footprint in motor vehicle market. This gives us entry into the premium segment of the automotives segment.”

Land Rover enthusiasts can look forward to new product offerings this year with the all-new Range Rover – a vehicle that takes the brand ‘above and beyond’ in every sense of the word – coming in this May and the all-new Range Rover Sport, which is expected to be launched in Q4 this year.

Sathosa Motors will create a regional outreach for the brand via a brand structure which is in line with its envisaged regional expansion plan.

Among future plans is the proposed assembly of the durable Land Rover Defender in Hambantota, which will bring down costs and make it affordable to a wider spectrum in the market. The company is waiting for base approval to come through.

“It takes approximately two years or so to get a manufacturing process approved,” Fernando said. “We have done the first few vehicles and have registered them. The project is expected to be carried out soon.” A few possible sites have been located for the plant.

Investment for this will be carried out in phases and the approximate investment under phase one is close to a million dollars, Perera added. This would also create potential for the possible export of Land Rovers assembled here for the South East Asian region in the future.

The state-of-the-art workshop which will be located on Vauxhall Street will be ready to commence operations by end this year. As after sales service is considered a cornerstone of strengthening the Land Rover/Range Rover brand, the workshop facility will have online access to manufacturers, where any technical issue can be referred. This will also ensure wider spare parts coverage and faster spare parts delivery times.

             - Pix by Sameera Wijesinghe