Dominica is now the fourth Caribbean island to move to the new, improved and price competitive Automotive Arts line of products, as a result of the regional company’s recently acquired majority shareholding in a Poland factory, Multichem.
On Saturday 9th May 2015, the local distributors of the automotive products, Auto Trade Ltd, held a demonstration on the new products which targeted their customers, such as body shop owners and operators, paint technicians, furniture builders and sign builders, among others.
The new products are an extended, upgraded and a less costly version of the former products from Automotive Arts and the General Manager of Auto Trade Ltd, Felix Nevares, is pleased.
“Technology improves with time and also the demand for different products that have a wider coverage. So, Automotive Arts has designed products and their products cover a much wider variety of needs and applications without necessarily trying to increase the variety of products that you carry as a reseller or distributor,” he told Dominica News Online (DNO).
“These new products, while they perform better than the old products, they are also price competitive than the current product. So Automotive arts decided to compete with themselves, improve the quality and competitive price part and we are very happy to have that. I think in our market we are all very cost conscious. We are getting the better quality and the better price. So it’s a win-win situation for consumers, body shop owners, distributers, so we are very happy.”
Meanwhile Technical Representative from Automotive Arts, Peter Padmore, said in the past their company was forced to transact business with third party products and they were not able to produce what they needed in terms of the quality and the competitive price for the Caribbean.
As a result in 2010 their company began working with a factory in Poland and two years ago Automotive Arts got the major shareholding interest of 51 shares in the Poland factory.
“…And by doing that we are able to control our destiny,” he said.
Padmore stated that in the event that a country needs a special product at a particular price, “it gives us that flexibility to do all of that and at the same time, maintaining quality. We can also offer a wider range. We have a better control over quality because it is coming from our factory.”
He said for quite some time the painters and their customers have been asking for lower prices because of the economic situation and this new line is going to offer a reduction in prices of between 6 and 14 per cent in Dominica.
One of the participants, Royston Linton from R & R Multimedia, located in Canefield, is welcoming the new products.
“We are in the signage business and over the years we have seen the need for more clear hardener and that is because most time we apply vinyl, and at some point they peel off and because of that we wanted to ensure that our customers are happy and even when it comes to our costing and we will provide something that will last even longer,” Linton said.
“That is where Automotive art came in. Even today, I’m getting better pricing from 6 percent to 14 percent so whatever we can save is better for us. We can become more competitive,” Linton remarked pointing out that he had the chance to use the old products and is sure that the new ones will be of “even better quality, so I’m quite satisfied.”
Those in attendance were given a firsthand look at the new line of products, how they perform and how they are used at the Auto Trade body repair shop.
It’s amazing the extent that a Mega Giant controlling numerous of the country distribution rights to various foreign products, “and still fighting to acquire more”, would go to stifle a little man running a one man operation with almost zero capital to invest, the products have been available for months on the south Florida market at the same cheap rates. Please don’t try to full the spray men of our little severing state into believing that you guys are doing this for them. You are only doing it in an attempt to stop the little poor man from eating a bread an passing on his benefits to the individuals who are supporting his little one man business. You can’t blame them for purchasing the very same product cheaper elsewhere than your over marked-up version of the VERY SAME PRODUCT. How can a man be buying a product in small amounts less than 50 units be selling the same product Cheaper than you the Mega Giant who is entitled to bulk purchase discount and Official distributor…
I see this as nothing but a free advertisement for the already wealthy amoung us. We first need to make the price of the actual vehicle more competitive. For too long we have been suffering from overpriced vehicles and parts in DA. Nonsense
Instead of saying these are better quality products, you need to do the comparative testing and show your customers that the new products are in fact better.
I work in the coatings industry (paints) and we do accelerated testing plus real time tests in test sites in Florida to verify the new paints are what they claim to be.
Just a bit if advice from someone who has worked in the industry for 30 years.