Hung Hiep (Cambodia) Co., the only company in Cambodia licensed to import Mercedes-Benz luxury vehicles, said Monday it would no longer make repairs to new lines of Mercedes vehicles that are smuggled into the country.
Company officials said the move is to reduce scams and repair costs, while increasing local sales.
“We made this decision based on the main objective that we don’t want customers buying cars that do not work because those cars will easily break down, costing money and time,” Khun Chantha, director of sales at Hung Hiep, said at a news conference at the company’s headquarters on Norodom Boulevard.
Mr. Chantha said the company wants to increase sales by about 20 to 30 percent—to between 30 and 50 vehicles per year—at a price of at least $100,000 per vehicle.
“Our plan is to sell 30 to 50 Mercedes cars per year,” he said, adding that Hung Hiep will continue to repair all vehicles produced before 2013.
Khun Yom, director of Hung Hiep’s service department, said the company will store customers’ data to track the vehicles’ repairs.
“All the customers’ information regarding the repair history of each Mercedes-Benz car will be stored by the service department’s system for future use,” he said, adding that owners of smuggled Mercedes vehicles would find it difficult to repair their cars elsewhere.
“We are the only company who has received a license from [Mercedes-Benz],” said Mr. Yom.
