Sales and marketing manager Apichai Pitayatornpitak said that as a first step, the price of its products had been increased by 10 per cent. The move is expected to cover rising production costs and particularly the cost of lead, which has jumped by 30 per cent since last year.

MF Auto began importing and distributing Puma maintenance-free auto batteries from South Korea last year, when it had sales of Bt30 million. However, it won only a 3.75-per-cent share of the maintenance-free battery market, which demands 600,000 units a year valued at Bt800 million.

The company aims to increase its market share to 50 per cent within five years, Apichai said.

It will expand its exclusive distributors from the current 340 outlets to 1,000 by the end of the year, and will focus on auto service centres - including Cockpit auto service by Bridgestone and BP Castrol auto service - he said.

The company expects to spend Bt60 million on marketing.

"We will target premium customers because the price of our batteries is between 30 per cent and 50 per cent higher than other producers," Apichai said.

Somluck Srimalee

 The Nation