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It is of no surprise to take the Made-in-China bus during your trip in Egypt. Apparently, China light buses conquer local market, from Cairo to nowhere, from city star to unremarkable places.
In 2013, the third year when Golden Dragon entered Egypt, nearly 6000 Golden Dragon light buses were used in local market, ranking 40% of the total. In 2012, Golden Dragon defeated TOYOTA to become the most potential brand in Egypt. The other day, Golden Dragon interviewed Deputy General Manager of EL Kasrawy Group ESLAM.
Enterprise
El Kasrawy Group, founded in 1979 as the first TOYOTA dealer in Egyptian market, is engaged in automobile, real estate and tourism transport.
Interviewee
Deputy General Manager: ESLAM
Reporter: Chinese light buses can be seen everywhere in Egypt.
ESLAM:Yes. There is no local light bus manufacturer in Egypt and all light buses in Egypt are imported. Compared to the products of other countries, Chinese light buses have no only reasonable price but also nice appearance and good performance. So you can see in the streets of Cairo all kinds of Chinese buses and many eye-catching advertisements in main auto magazines of Egypt.
Reporter:Does EI Kasrawy Group specialize in motor transport industry?
ESLAM: El Kasrawy Group has been active in Egypt since 1979. We have been in the automotive field since that year and have been working on our first brand with Toyota for 30 years. Over these years we’ve expanded with many new brands, for example, Nissan, Kia and of course, the last but not least is our partner in China, the Golden Dragon.
In the 90s, the Group started to expand to other fields, such as the real estate, and then followed by the tourism transportation divisions.
Today the company is firmly standing in three businesses: Automotive filed, Real estate sector and Tourism transportation business.
Reporter:When you choose a cooperator for vehicles, what characters do you focus on , any special requirement do you need for the vehicle?
ESLAM::Of course, before we start any cooperation with any company, we must find out that this company’s strategies are in line with our company’s strategies at the beginning. And they have to have the same ideas and routes that we have in El Kasrawy Group. Based on this, we found this is actually fitting with the Golden Dragon Company.
We’re always looking for a company that is always improving its products and has a long term of business plan that is very long-sighted, and also that is very caring about its product quality in terms of continuous improvement and R&D research.
Reporter:What’s the principle of El Kasrawy Group?
ESLAM::The principle of El Kasrawy Group is to put our customers’ satisfaction above all accounts and based on this we always seek to find the best products, best services and to give exceptional ownership experiences for anyone of our customers and for anyone of brands we work for.
Reporter:Do you have the similar products like in Toyota and Nissan?
ESLAM:Yes.
Reporter:So why did you choose Golden Dragon as your partner?
ESLAM:Because of course Golden Dragon has the same principle the El Kasrawy Group has:Customers’ satisfaction above all！
Based on this, currently the Japanese products are positioned especially with the late inflation of Japanese Yen. This has dramatic effects on the product explores. Good quality products, competitive prices, and that is the most important advancements of Golden Dragon similar products.
Reporter:Now, until now, how many Golden Dragon buses are running in Egypt market?
ESLAM: This is actually we have been finishing now our second year in Egyptian market. Until now I think we have about 6000 vehicles in Egypt.
Reporter:In Egypt, what fields are Golden Dragon microbuses used?
ESLAM:Many! For example, Taxi and inter-city transportation. Because Chinese perception in terms of quality and product is improving over the last 2 years in Egyptian market.
Reporter:Now how is the performance of Golden Dragon Minibuses in Egypt?
ESLAM:Actually it’s doing very good.
Especially that every auto, every bus we received here from Golden dragon China to try to improve the quality of the product in terms of methods and finishes so on, based on this Egyptian customers are seeing this improvement and speaking very highly about them.
Especially this is as I said we’ve been finishing now our second year, and there has been Chinese competitors in the market for about 5 or 6 years ago.
So now in our second year we are now the market leader so this is a very good achievement for El Kasrawy Group as well as for Golden Dragon.
Reporter:Based on what I’ve heard, I can believe that the cooperation between Golden Dragon and El Kasrawy Group has achieved a great success in Egyptian market, so what do you think is the main point to make this success?
ESLAM:I think there are many points in the success.
As I told you El Kasrawy Group has been working in the tourism market of Egypt since 1979, we started our first cooperation with Toyota.
Actually our group is the first company to introduce the Toyota microbus to Egyptian market. So the microbus in Egypt is hugely related to El Kasrawy Group itself.
So always in Egypt the histories of microbus are interlinked together. So how we say the introduced minibuses are hugely accepted and regarded with very big quantities in the market.
Especially that we are very successful, as I told you, the Toyota and Nissan, so people say these are very good quality products so the third introduction of the Golden Dragon microbus must be as well good products. But this was for the introduction phase only.
Afterwards, as I told you, with Golden Dragon we were working strongly and we made a lot of efforts to improve qualities a lot.
And this was regarded and seen by the customers themselves and has increased the number of the demand in our market.
Reporter:You have mentioned that your sales network here is around Egypt, all around Egypt, so how about the after-sales? Is it the same?
ESLAM:Yes, currently we are working to improve our after-sales network.
Especially that Egyptian customer’s perception is to put Chinese brand of automotive industry in general into comparison, for example, according to their makes and Japanese makes, so I think in this coming year especially 2013 to dramatically improve our after-sales network to reach the coverage area from Alexandria in the north of Egypt and up to Aswan, the south of Egypt, and from Sallum, east of Egypt to west of Egypt up to Libya. We are emphasizing very much on the coverage of the sales and after-sales network.
In addition to this we have a special movement in several weeks, this is that microbuses from Golden Dragon with service equipments and service packages go around the microbus stations and they reach the houses and workplaces of the customers to give them the proper services that they need.
Reporter:What after-sales services does Golden Dragon provide in Egypt?
ESLAM:The specification of Golden Dragon light vans in Egypt were designed according to the particular custom of Egyptian people and the local using conditions, such as strengthened seats, upgraded insulation pad under the driver seat and relocated water inlet. Moreover, Golden Dragon has built service stations in Alexander and Cario, which provides great convenience to the end users.
Reporter:You have mentioned that you have given some free spare parts to some clients, what’s their feedback?
ESLAM:Actually they were very excited about all this, they felt the company was always caring for their benefits, and it’s always standing on their back, supporting them.
This is very important especially when we talk about Chinese products.
And this is another point and tactic in this period to change the perception of Chinese automotive industry and the products in the Egyptian water. By having a strong seize on after-sales network, in addition to creating a very strong customer loyalty.
Reporter: Would you like to give some comments on Golden Dragon, what kind of the company that Golden Dragon is?
ESLAM:I think from my experience that in dealing with Golden Dragon, it’s one of the most reliable companies in China. As I said, they are always very caring for their name, they want to always improve their markets and their export markets and to hit the international market .
And of course they know it does not come easy, it has to be done by hard work and efforts by having the long-term vision planning for this and always having improvements in the quality and the method of the product. So they are more and more competitive both in Chinese and international brands.
Reporter:Well, we wish EI Kasrawy and Golden Dragon will have furthre cooperation in more fields in the near future.Thank you!
ESLAM:OK, thank you.