AMENA Brings Overseas Markets In Focus At Nissan Patrol Launch
At the launch of the redesigned 2020 Nissan Patrol, AMENA spoke about successful business models with rising potential in overseas markets. Nissan delegates from key global markets were present at the occasion, and presented some crucial insights into the current industry position. Daximilan P. Avenido, Assistant General Manager Communications for Nissan Philippines, shed some light on the state of affairs in his home market. Together, Avenido and Alan Whaley, Chairman of AMENA Automotive discussed on how best to address modern challenges and opportunities cropping up all over the Automotive industry, right from a local to the global scale. It’s an increasingly unstable Automotive market out there, yet things are looking up. The Philippines industry reported a 1.46 percent growth in sales for the first half of 2019 compared to the same period in 2018. A few segments have seen lower demand than before. Passenger cars registered a 6.4 percent decline, while heavy commercial vehicle sales dipped more than 40 percent. However, light commercial vehicles saw a 23.1 percent rise in demand.
AMENA Collaborates With Dubai World Congress For Self-Driving Transport 2019
Dubai is hosting the annual World Congress for Self-Driving Transport which will host domestic and global stakeholders uniting their efforts towards a sustainable future in mobility. AMENA is one of the proud sponsors of the Congress, bringing to the table valuable insights into the prevalent Automotive trends in the MENA region, and an exhaustive knowledge of best practices in the industry.
Geneva Motor Show 2019: Koenigsegg Jesko Debuts With World’s Most Advanced Transmission
Koenigsegg has gotten into a habit of taking the world by surprise each time it has a new car in the works. This time, the car is Koenigsegg Jesko, and it features an incredible seven-clutch nine-speed transmission. Koenigsegg is touting the Jesko, which is named after company founder Christian Von Koenigsegg’s father, as a replacement of the mighty Agera RS which cemented its place as one of the most extreme hypercars on the planet before signing off from production a few years ago.
Michelin Leads The Way For Women In The Automotive Industry
AMENA hosted Middle East’s first ever Women In Automotive Forum bringing together the movers and shakers of the Automotive industry to explore how female professionals and consumers can be supported and empowered in new and progressive ways. Michelin, a gold sponsor at the event, highlighted some noteworthy initiatives by the French brand towards women empowerment through a presentation by Ines Pintenat, Head of Consumer Experience at Michelin. Michelin has been at the forefront of innovations ever since it was founded in 1889. From humble beginnings as one of many auto and truck parts suppliers, the French firm is now at the pinnacle in all the services and products it markets. After all, designing and manufacturing tyres for the Apollo spaceship has to rank as the company’s crowning achievement. However, Michelin does not believe in resting on its laurels and continuously searches for new horizons to expand and grow. Among its many notable endeavours, Michelin has also actively encouraged and augmented the role of women in the Automotive industry. Alan Whaley, Chairman of AMENA Auto, spoke at the WIA Forum, “For the last 100 years, the Automotive industry has played an integral part in defining and shaping our lives by providing new dimensions of mobility and personal freedom. However, when it comes to the role of women in Automotive, we have not been a leader. And that’s putting it mildly.” Ines Pintenat presented three of Michelin’s key initiatives aimed at including and empowering women in the Automotive industry in her presentation at the WIA Forum. Michelin took an organic approach towards their women empowerment campaign and let the audience do the talking. Hundreds of satisfied Michelin customers across the world began mentioning their achievements in the Automotive arena through the #WomenInDrive campaign, prompting Michelin to sit up and take notice. The company has since then set up three campaigns that specifically focus on women. #AMG4Women was organized by Mercedes-Benz that took an all-woman audience across France on a road trip in Mercedes-AMG cars where they were treated to a sumptuous culinary experience by Michelin Star chefs. It was powered by Michelin, the company that used to do something along the same lines in the early 20th century in France. In the 1920s, customers who purchased Michelin tyres were also handed a small card that detailed the best driving routes France had to offer. It also pointed out the best places to have a sumptuous dining experience along these routes. Michelin clearly has been ahead of its time, and very much customer-oriented since its inception. The French manufacturer also supported stunt driver and artist Sera Trimble in her novel stunt that involved an artwork tracing the trajectory of her stunt car, a Lexus RC-F. Using a set of Michelin Pilot Sport 4 S tyres, Sera performed a drift stunt on a closed course. Her GPS-enabled Lexus sent the data to a robotic arm that painted her exact trajectory on a blank sheet of canvas. Again, another innovative campaign with Michelin hallmarks that also promotes the role of women in the Automotive industry. Michelin, a Gold Sponsor at the 2018 Women In Automotive Forum, showcased its three-pronged initiative at the gathering of Middle East’s leading Automotive industry personnel. Campaigns such as these mark the French brand out as one of the leaders in customer experience. The #WomenInDrive campaign also proves that Michelin is undoubtedly at the forefront when it comes to imparting women an equal place in the Automotive industry. We express our sincere gratitude to all the veterans and experienced professionals in the automotive industry for their valuable input and advice when we write our articles. We take pride in our commitment to embracing technology, including AI, to enhance the quality of our articles.
AMENA Hosts Region’s First Women In Automotive Forum
Over the last few months, the team at AMENA has been working closely with industry counterparts, notable publishers and association members to launch the highly anticipated Women In Automotive Forum that welcomed over 150 industry executives, VIPs, media, and celebrity influencers. The goal of the Women In Automotive Forum was to organize and focus the conversation around how the Automotive industry’s female professionals and female consumers may be empowered and supported in better and more progressive ways. The program featured a number of high impact TED-Style Keynote Spotlights as well as deep insights from a special panel on the subject of gender diversity and women empowerment. During the reception, attendees which included executives from major manufacturers, importers, and global suppliers got a chance to share knowledge, discuss insights, and improve business relationships. “It’s not every day you see so many key players and all in one room to move the Automotive industry to the forefront of women empowerment.” – Mr. Samir Gargash, Chairman of Gargash Group. Nissan’s VP of Human Resources – AMI Region, Samar ElMnhrawy, further impressed on how “we need women there for women to feel comfortable wanting to be there, representation is so important.” Part of the progress comes from diversity of skills and capabilities, as Sarah Chambers, FCA’s Head of HR Middle East pointed out: “We assess all our employees on more ‘masculine’ leadership skills but also on more ‘feminine’ leadership skills so we also have qualities like humility, respect, openness, transparency…it’s about acknowledging a mix of those qualities.” On the consumer side, speakers shared data and insights on female consumers and shared ideas and initiatives on how to adapt these emerging trends. Ines Pintenat, Head of Consumer Experience at Michelin ME, spoke about how women want to be marketed differently. Michelin, a gold sponsor and close partner of the Women In Automotive Forum, has been a leader in creating experiences for female consumers. “Michelin’s theme of #WomenInDrive invites women into the Automotive world and empowers women of different backgrounds.” Dr. Saeeda Jaffar, Managing Director of Alvarez & Marsal, shared that “when it comes to the topic of electric cars and shared mobility, our data shows that women are much more favorable towards these advancements than men.” The Forum concluded the evening of conversation, inspiration, and highly valuable insights by introducing the the upcoming Women in Automotive Whitepaper, due to be released in January 2019. The Women In Automotive Forum is the first in a series of initiatives AMENA has planned around the topic. As an unbiased, independent body that supports the Automotive industry and its consumers, AMENA will share the findings and collective insights with Forum attendees, members of the association, and key players and partners of the Automotive industry. We express our sincere gratitude to all the veterans and experienced professionals in the automotive industry for their valuable input and advice when we write our articles. We take pride in our commitment to embracing technology, including AI, to enhance the quality of our articles.
Gargash Motors Opens New GAC Motor Showroom In Dubai
Gargash Motors are bringing Chinese automaker GAC Motor to the shores of UAE. GAC Motor is the sixth largest automaker in China in terms of global reach and model line-up. A brand new showroom for GAC was launched by Gargash Motors on Wednesday in Dubai. The grand opening was accompanied by the unveiling of GAC Motor’s flagship cars- The GA8 sedan and the GS7 and GS8 SUVs. The company’s current line-up stands tall with the GM8, GS7, GS8, GA8, GS4, GA6, GA4 and the GS5 Super.
Autofocus Episode 01: Women In Automotive and The Evolution of The Industry
With over 15 years of experience in the corporate realm, Samar Elmnhrawy, Nissan’s Vice President of HR for Middle East, Africa and India, believes that the term ‘woman empowerment’ is unfavourable. And for the right reasons indeed. “It makes me believe that we are talking about woman as an alien or a minority group,” Elmnhrawy said. In the past decade, feminism has gained momentum all over the world. In the Middle East, it was only last year that Saudi Arabia legalised driving for women. Having sufficient experience in the corporate sector, Elmnhrawy believes that there is a false perception of how a woman can progress. “If an individual, man or woman, can show their value to the organisation and deliver steady performance alongside the right networking and a few sponsors, it will really help their careers in the corporate world,” says Elmnhrawy. Further explaining the meaning of sponsorship in the corporate world, Elmnhrawy states that women can find those influential individuals and tag on their expertise, having coaching and mentorship of what one can do, how can one position themselves differently so that they can actually progress with their career. Someone who will advocate you in the corporate environment. At the moment, among major Automotive conglomerates around the world, the employment share of females is just around six percent, which is alarming. “Even the best companies today are targeting 20 to 25 percent which shouldn’t be the case because you need to target 50 percent for equal treatment,” says Elmnhrawy. Nissan, being a sponsor for the Women in Automotive forum for the next two years, will focus on how to raise the awareness in terms of the value chain, starting from the government, the regulators, and how they can be influenced to have more availability for women in the Automotive industry. Where does the problem lie? Is it in the cultural mindset of regions such as the Middle East, Africa and India where women have a lower position in the society? Listen to the complete podcast to know more about Samar Elmnhrawy’s view of women in the Automotive industry. We express our sincere gratitude to all the veterans and experienced professionals in the automotive industry for their valuable input and advice when we write our articles. We take pride in our commitment to embracing technology, including AI, to enhance the quality of our articles.
Autofocus Episode 7: The Radical New Look of The Automotive Industry
The seventh episode of the Autofocus Podcast gives you insights into the luxury Automotive segment through the experience and no-nonsense approach of Frank Bernthaler, CEO of Emirates Motor Company. Emirates Motor Company is the Mercedes-Benz Authorized Distributor in the Abu Dhabi since 1962, and was recognized as the #1 market in CSI for Mercedes-Benz Cars in the GCC from 2013-2017. Frank has spent 30 years in the Automotive industry, and is a long-term member of the Mercedes-Benz family. In this podcast, Frank shares his views on a variety of hot topics: the evolution of the industry, long-term partnerships between automakers, the distribution-retail chain, and the dilemma of changing consumer sensibilities. A few minutes into the conversation, Frank eloquently describes how Mercedes-Benz’s brand has evolved, from being widely regarded as a brand for older people to one for those who want the best at any age. Frank Bernthaler was a witness to the change, and lends an intriguing perspective to the story. The automobile market has evolved from the day where a handful of brands served the global market to new players springing up across the globe offering cars and mobility in every imaginable configuration. And the complexity of the way the business is run has increased exponentially. This means the modern customer is becoming less loyal to a brand and more perceptive of value. In the old days, a buyer would make four to five visits to a brand’s showroom before finalizing a purchase. The modern consumer is well-researched and only needs an average of 1.2 visits to a dealership to settle for a car. How do you tackle the new kind of customer expects more of you and is not willing to put up with the best practices of the old days? There were times in the 1990s when buyers had to wait a long before they could drive home in their own Mercedes-Benz S-Class. Such times clearly do not exist anymore, so taking a business forward in such a scenario would take a paradigm shift in the approach to customer experience. Frank has some interesting advice to offer in this situation. “Companies that were competing with each other on a daily basis over decades are suddenly joining forces.” – Frank Bernthaler, CEO of Emirates Motor Company” The New Dynamics of The Industry Speaking about shifting trends, Frank highlights how we are witnessing new alliances and new partnerships emerge, both within the industry and with new players outside on a global scale. Big brands are investing in startups, legacy products are being merged with new-age innovations, traditional competitors are now becoming best friends, etc. When it comes to sales in our region, Frank is very clear on one thing, we need to accept that there is a new ‘normal’ when it comes to purchase of new cars and the days of record sales witnessed from 2011 to 2015 won’t come back in the same form. What should brands do to adapt to this new ‘normal’? We have to run lean operations and manage our business effectively, while exploring and adopting new business models. What about CASE? Finally, the future is clearly autonomous, connected, electric, and shared. Customer data is a pivotal tool to understand and act upon future trends and Frank talks about how dealers and brands can share data to learn more about the customers. However, with the advent of connected cars, all parties involved will automatically have access to customer data leading to much deeper analysis and utilisation of this data. Frank has a wealth of knowledge and interesting views on the past and the future. This episode of Autofocus is intriguing, eye-opening, and a must-read must-watch must-listen for people who want to understand the new landscape of the regional Automotive industry. We express our sincere gratitude to all the veterans and experienced professionals in the automotive industry for their valuable input and advice when we write our articles. We take pride in our commitment to embracing technology, including AI, to enhance the quality of our articles.
Autofocus Episode 06: Data, Competition, and Ethics in the Age of Connectivity
In the sixth episode of the Autofocus Podcast, we sit down with Anders Nilsson, Managing Partner of the global law firm Bird & Bird. Anders moved to Dubai in 2014 from Bird & Bird’s Stockholm office, and leads the UAE office of Bird & Bird providing legal and corporate expertise across industries and value chains in the MENA region, from franchise rights to counterfeit protection to data compliance. UAE Competition Law In Focus In order to address anti-competitive practices, the UAE created a competition law in 2013, with implementation taking effect in 2017. However, even today, there is very little awareness as to what the law means for the incumbents and new players in the Automotive market. What are the ramifications for Automotive manufacturers, exclusive importers, and third party suppliers? Significant, if you don’t take the time to canvas the legal landscape and understand how your existing partnership agreements hold up. Anders also shared interesting insights drawing on Bird & Bird’s extensive experience in intellectual property. Specifically, the conversation of counterfeit protection is a big one on the minds of many in the Automotive market. It is no news that counterfeit parts have infiltrated the regional market to a large degree. How might we go about addressing it? What are the safety concerns if we don’t? Bird & Bird is currently advising organizations and government bodies to be able to tell the difference between original and counterfeit parts floating around in the supply chain. The more important aspect discussed, is the issue of safety original parts. Sometimes aftermarket spare parts can be at par with OEM units in terms of safety, quality, and durability. At such times, is it legally advisable to allow owners to fit these parts to their vehicles without voiding warranty? This is a question that’s been asked for ages in the Automotive industry, and Anders skillfully tackled it in the episode. “A modern aircraft will have 1000 different data sets during a flight. There are currently major disputes between the different stakeholders. The airlines who generated the data, the OEMs who produced the hard metal and all the technology, the service organizations, the insurance companies, the banks who own the aircraft. All of them have good arguments on ownership or control of the data. And I think we will see the same thing when it comes to the Automotive industry.” Of course we discussed a hot topic that everyone wants to know more about: autonomous vehicles. From a legal aspect, autonomous vehicles pose a number of new challenges that technology alone will not be able to answer. For instance, when an autonomous vehicle has to decide between hitting a CEO or a mother and child, how does it make that decision? Another question is who is legally responsible for accidents when autonomous vehicles hit roads with a mix of autonomous and human-driven vehicles? Governance of Automotive Data and AI As we know, data and artificial intelligence play a major role in connected and autonomous vehicles. This calls for an entirely new set of laws to regulate it. Governments also play a crucial role when it comes to the legal framework. Are world governments focusing on this enough or not? You see different approaches from the UAE’s 2031 Artificial Intelligence strategy to Bahrain’s Data Protection law. Finally, Anders also stressed on the importance of women in the Automotive industry. Hailing from Sweden, he understands and appreciates the effect gender equality can have in any industry. Bird & Bird is devoid of gender bias, firmly believing that not recruiting women in key positions is simply losing out on 50 percent of available talent. The firm also aims to achieve 50 percent female partners in its offices across the world in the coming decade. The episode rounded off with Anders confessing that he’s a bit of a petrolhead himself. He shared his excitement about car culture in the region and even shared which exceptional sports car he enjoys driving. Listen to find out a few more clues. Anders Nilsson shared great insights on the legal and governance challenges facing the Automotive industry. We express our sincere gratitude to all the veterans and experienced professionals in the automotive industry for their valuable input and advice when we write our articles. We take pride in our commitment to embracing technology, including AI, to enhance the quality of our articles.
Autofocus Episode 05: The Road To Incredible Customer Experience
The fifth episode of the Autofocus Podcast episode features Hussein Dajani, GM Digital and Customer Experience Transformation for Nissan Motor Corporation AMI. Hussein has over extensive advertising and marketing communication experience in the space leading and building integrated marketing practices within multinational agencies (JWT, Leo Burnett, and TBWA\) and client side (Fortune 500 companies – Virgin Mobile and Red Bull), across the Middle East and Africa region. Hussein has been involved in a number of initiatives fundamentally transforming the customer experience for Nissan customers in the region. These include the Nissan #SheDrives campaign for women drivers in Saudi Arabia, implementing Nissan Customer Power 2022 in the region starting with infrastructure, and the storytelling around Nissan Intelligent Mobility. “In this part of the world, frequent job changes are seen as someone who isn’t not committed to company. For me, it was great and if I had to do it all over again, I’d do it in a heartbeat. All my job changes really contributed to my experience and knowledge.” Hussein was among the first batch of WPP MENA employees to receive the renowned WPP Young High Potential Leaders award from Sir Martin Sorrell (Chairman and Worldwide President of WPP) and Bob Jeffrey (Chairman and Worldwide President of JWT). A few minutes into the conversation and you can tell how passionate Hussein is about what he does. Customer experience is very close to his heart and in this episode of AMENA Autofocus, he dives deep into his understanding and philosophy of how digital helps in great customer experience and how can brands connect offline journey with online journey. Putting the customer at the centre of what they do puts a lot of pressure and focus on employees at Nissan. However, it is something that pushes the company forward and makes everyone deliver their best. Focusing on changes in the world of mobility, the topic of ‘fresh blood’ in the industry is something that Hussein and Alan Whaley discuss at length. Not only does this brings in a fresh perspective on a rapidly changing industry, it also adds different skill sets needed by carmakers today who aren’t just building cars anymore. You can listen to the Autofocus podcast by following the links to our audio version or watch the full video of our conversation following the link above. We express our sincere gratitude to all the veterans and experienced professionals in the automotive industry for their valuable input and advice when we write our articles. We take pride in our commitment to embracing technology, including AI, to enhance the quality of our articles.