THIS was Malaysia’s first-ever 3S Volkswagen Autohaus (sales, service and spare parts). Opened in May 2010 at a purpose-built and designed building located along the Lebuhraya Damansara Puchong (LDP) it was an impressive facility facing a busy highway and ready to service an affluent middle to an upper-middle-class neighbourhood.
The total area of this Volkswagen (VW) Taman Tun Dr Ismal (TTDI) 3S centre was 47,300 sq/ft. It had a 7,000 sq/ft. showroom on the ground level that included a display area for six to eight cars, a comfortable customers’ lounge and a VW Merchandise display section.
The workshop was on the basement level with a total area of 19,000 sq ft that had 10 work bays, spare parts store and special tools room. It also housed the VGM (VW Group Malaysia) Technical Service Centre with training facilities such as a classroom that could accommodate 30 trainees and two work bays with hoists for practical training.
The office area was located on level one with a total area of 8,300 sq ft. Level two of the VW TTDI 3S Centre had a 13,000 sq ft car park area that could park about 80 brand new Volkswagen cars ready for sale to customers in this affluent neighbourhood.
The owner of this VW TTDI 3S is Cergas Auto is a wholly-owned subsidiary of KLSE-listed Permaju Industries Bhd. They have been in the automotive business for some years now and they were also running a Ford dealership just a few meters away in a small building. With the closure of this VW TTDI outlet, they have moved the growing Ford dealership to this former VW dealership and are now open for business.
Sales, service and spare parts for Ford owners around this affluent neighbourhood get better and there is no competition for this Ford dealership in this small automotive belt which has a BMW, MINI, Honda, Proton and a few used/reconditioned car dealers all in a row.
This is now one of 3 Volkswagen showrooms that have closed for good in the last two years (another has been taken over by a new owner) and the first showroom to be closed during this Covid-19 pandemic.
In early 2019 we saw the established Federal Auto Wagen 4S centre closing along Jalan 222 and then a few weeks later it was the Volkswagen 4S centre in Selayang followed by Volkswagen Semenyih (which was under Hicom Auto) and sometime after that in late 2019 we have the 4S centre located at No 8, Jalan Dua, off Jalan Sungei Besi, 55200 Kuala Lumpur, Federal Territory of Kuala Lumpur closing down. This outlet a few weeks later was reopened under a new owner, GVE Asia.
At the moment Volkswagen still has 19 dealers all over Malaysia and you can check their locations and contact numbers at the www.volkswagen.com.my website. – The Vibes, January 19, 2021
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