DRB-Hicom partners with Petromin to enter after-sales service market

DRB-Hicom Berhad, through its subsidiary Edaran Otomobil Nasional Berhad (EON), will venture into the aftersales market space after signing a partnership agreement with Saudi Arabia's Petromin Express - a subsidiary of Petromin Corporation, and the world's fifth largest fast-fit service brand.

The partnership sees Petromin Express take up a 51% share of this joint-venture, with the remaining 49% taken up by DRB-Hicom via EON.

Both firms have agreed to launch an 18-month pilot programme starting from January 2023 with plans to open four outlets providing car buyers fast-fit after-sales services and a quick turnaround time.

This is modelled after Petromin's highly successful Petromin Express stores in Saudi Arabia, and the key targets are post-warranty cars between the ages of five to ten years.

Both firms seek to gain a piece of Malaysia's sizable and expanding vehicle aftersales business, which earned over RM42 billion in revenue in 2021.

The signing ceremony recently held at Wisma DRB-HICOM saw Akkbar Danial, CEO of EON, and Kalyana Sivagnanam, group CEO of Petromin, signing the agreement contract.

“We are indeed excited to partner with Petromin and expand our presence in the post warranty aftersales market, which will most definitely complement our existing OEM based aftersales businesses” said Akkbar on the collaboration.

This collaboration complements DRB-Hicom’s existing and extensive automotive value chain. The Group is already an OEM via Proton, retails several foreign automotive brands under the EON umbrella, and also offers mandatory inspection services via Puspakom.