KUALA LUMPUR: Komoco Cars, owned by Ipoh-born billionaire Ong Beng Seng, will be the new Ferrari distributor in Malaysia from this month.
Komoco Cars, which is Ong's automotive business unit in Singapore, takes over from Naza Italia Sdn Bhd.
According to www.dsf.my, the documents between both parties were signed this week.
The brand-new Malaysian Ferrari showroom would be located in Glenmarie, said the portal, which is run by seasoned motoring writer Daniel Sherman Fernandez.
Fernandez said the formal announcement would be made on Saturday and would include all the information including the location and the date that operations would begin.
The news was neither comfirmed or denied by a Ferrari spokesperson.
"Ferrari does not comment on rumours or speculations. An official statement will be released in due time," she said in an email reply to the New Straits Times (NST).
The NST reported last month that Ong and the automotive arm of Sime Darby Bhd were leading the race to become Ferrari's new distributor here after the Italian sports carmaker ended its partnership with Naza Group's unit Naza Italia.
Ong had an upper hand over most of a host of other possible suitors given that his company Ital Auto had been the Ferrari importer in Singapore since 2009 when he took over the Ferrari business from Hong Seh Motors Singapore, which is a family-owned and run business.
Ital is part of the multi-franchise Komoco group owned by Ong, who made his fortune more in property and hospitality ventures and was credited with bringing the F1 race to Singapore.
Komoco handles automotive brands such as Hyundai and Maserati in the republic.
Apart from Ong and Sime Darby, a host of names that had been circulating on the grapevine after it was confirmed that Naza Italia would lose its import and distribution rights for Ferrari, included two Malaysian groups with ties to the Prancing Horse through dealerships, albeit not here.
Besides Sime Darby, the second party was Berjaya Group, which is one of the world's largest retailers of supercar brands including Ferrari, Rolls Royce, and Bugatti through its H.R. Owen automotive retail arm in the UK.
Meanwhile, Naza Group will continue to sell Maserati vehicles in Malaysia.
Maserati is under the Stellantis Group and has nothing to do with Ferrari since 2021.
