KUALA LUMPUR (Oct 26): DRB-Hicom Bhd’s wholly-owned subsidiary, Edaran Otomobil Nasional Bhd (EON), has made an investment in Genie Malaysia, a subsidiary of Carro, Southeast Asia’s largest online used-car platform.

The investment is aligned to the group’s move to enhance its automotive distribution ecosystem, said DRB-Hicom in a joint statement with Carro on Thursday.

The statement, however, did not give details of the investment including the cost.

The two groups said the collaboration will unlock valuable cross-selling opportunities for DRB-Hicom within myTukar’s dealer network, comprising over 2,600 dealers nationwide.

“Following our investment in Carro’s myTukar used-car platform in 2021, we are excited to deepen this strategic partnership, and are confident that the synergy between our two parties will unlock unprecedented opportunities that will benefit our customers and drive mutual success," said EON chief executive officer and DRB-Hicom head of automotive distribution Akbar Danial.

“As we venture into game-changing technology, our accumulated experience brings valuable insights and expertise to the table. We believe this experience will greatly benefit both parties as we navigate and innovate in this new technological landscape,” he added.

Genie Malaysia CEO Simon Chan said the company has been able to combine data as well as the strengths of Carro and myTukar to democratise used car financing.

According to the statement, Genie Malaysia has built a loan book of nearly RM600 million comprising a highly diverse loan portfolio. With a data-centric approach, its non-performing loan ratio has been maintained at less than 2%, better than most of Genie Malaysia’s peers and even some banks

Shares in DRB Hicom finished one sen or 0.71% higher at RM1.41, giving the group a market capitalization of RM2.73 billion.