goingplacesmagazine.com
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33
| August 2019
Mark Raine | IN PROFILE
Mark Raine answers our
rapid-fire questions.
- YOUR FAVOURITE
MALAYSIAN FOOD.
Chinese noodles, and green lobster in
Kota Kinabalu, Sabah. - MAMAK OR KOPITIAM?
Kopitiam. - YOUR FAVOURITE KOPITIAM FOOD.
Noodles and dim sum. - SPICY OR NON-SPICY?
Non-spicy. - TEH TARIK OR KOPI “O”?
Kopi “O”. - YOUR FAVOURITE WORD TO USE.
Gung-ho. - YOUR FAVOURITE MALAYSIAN
STATE FOR A HOLIDAY.
Penang. - YOUR FAVOURITE PLACE TO CHILL
OUT IN KUALA LUMPUR.
In the morning, Huckleberry in
Damansara Heights. In the afternoon,
somewhere in Bangsar. In the evening,
exploring the many restaurants in
Bangsar, Sri Hartamas or Taman Tun
Dr Ismail. - WHAT ARE YOU MOST
PASSIONATE ABOUT?
My sports, Mercedes-Benz cars,
my favourite football club VfB
Stuttgart, and hanging out with
friends and family. - IF YOU WERE NOT IN SALES AND
MARKETING, WHAT WOULD YOU
BE DOING?
I would love to be a professional
football player, but unfortunately, I
don’t have the talent for that. I’ve also
always wanted to be an investment
banker, just to see if I can be good
enough to, not manipulate, but steer
the markets.
and to a certain degree, disrupting the market
are all very important to ensure the agility of
our strategy. This is something that I hope I
have instilled into, not just Mercedes-Benz
Malaysia, but also our dealer network to
really break the boundaries, and I hope they
continue doing that.
So your next challenge is the Korean
market. The auto industry there is
significantly more competitive. Are you
up for it?
I’m very excited because Korea is one of the top
five markets in the world for Mercedes-Benz
after China, the U.S. and Germany, so it’s a huge
task and it’s a great privilege to have.
How do you feel about leaving Malaysia?
When I came in 2014, I found a market which
may not be as progressive, and that was the
window of opportunity for us to come in with a
new conviction to turn things around. But in the
last 2-3 years, our competitors and the entire
market have observed what we have done, and
they have been adapting and trying out new
things. I feel that one of the legacies that I am
leaving behind is the impact I have made on the
market in terms of changing the speed in which
auto manufacturers have gone about doing
their business. This disruption to the market
is very good because at the end of the day, it’s
the customers who are benefitting from it. I’ve
launched more than 50 cars in Malaysia. For
me, that is a strategy in itself – to always be
relevant, to always be on top of people’s minds.
I may be launching the Maybach or the GLA and
you may not be interested in them, but that’s
irrelevant. The brand recall will stay with you
and you will perceive Mercedes-Benz to be the
most relevant in the automotive industry. ■
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