Flash Motors, Stewart’s collaborating on EV showroom

The BYD brand of electric vehicles will have its own showroom next year that brand distributor Flash Motors says will be developed by the Stewart’s Automotive Group with its support.

The company currently has an arrangement with Stewart’s to retail the Chinese vehicles that it procures and supplies to the Jamaican auto dealer for local sale. The showroom is expected to be operational by the third or fourth quarter of 2023.

Flash Motors CEO Xavier Gordon said Stewart’s will operate the showroom but it would “support them in the build out”. Stewart’s referred questions back to Flash Motors on the location of the showroom and prospective investment in the set-up.

Flash Motors aims to sell EVs in Jamaica, Trinidad & Tobago, Guyana, St Lucia and Barbados. For now BYD – which is reportedly the largest electric vehicle brand globally but is less visible in this hemisphere – is the only EV that Flash represents. Flash Motors is owned by Xavier Gordon; Carey Escoffery, who is also its chief financial officer; investor Zachary Harding; Wigton Windfarms Limited; and other undisclosed partners. Gordon and Escoffery are Canadians with Jamaican roots.

Wigton, which is a listed company on the Jamaica Stock Exchange, recently disclosed that it had acquired a 21 per cent stake in Flash Motors in March. But Gordon declined to comment on the stakes held by the other shareholders.

“We are keeping that private but Wigton being on board is very strategic for us,” he said.

Wigton in its newly released audited results for year ending March 2022 valued its stake in Flash Motors at $137.5 million, which would put the overall value of the start-up EV dealership at $655 million.

“You can scale the valuation based on Wigton’s percentage,” said Gordon when asked. “It is a good valuation for the potential of the company. We hope that valuation will change from the prelaunch into the official stages of operation,” Gordon said.

Flash Motors is not averse to a local listing on the stock exchange, assuming the business takes off.

“I do not see any reason why we wouldn’t, but we want to see how the market views our product, and how the rest of the market aligns,” said Gordon.

BYD makes cars, buses, bikes, multipurpose vehicles or MPVs, and other light vehicles. Gordon said that the company would consider selling bikes but that it would require doing due diligence on how riders view quieter bikes.

EVs are run by a silent powertrain in opposition to cars with engines linked to an exhaust system. But the BYDs to be distributed by Flash Motors will adopt the European standard that will see the EVs emitting a hum under 30 kilometres as a safety feature for pedestrians.

“It is a audible hum to ensure people can hear you. In the North American market, EVs do not have that regulation and they move silently at any speed. But in the Jamaican market, it will be added as a safety feature,” Gordon said.

The company will seek market share from among consumers as well as fleet operators.

“Our fleet customers will give a lot of valuable feedback. They are on road for long periods and will put the EVs through the paces. Fleet operators and companies appreciate the immediate return on investment due to lower operating costs. Consumers will appreciate the economics of the car but it is a more of an emotional sale than for fleet vehicles,” the chief executive said.

The company will pitch one of its models for government fleets and another for corporate fleets. Earlier this year, the Financial Gleaner did test drives of two BYD vehicles, courtesy of Stewart’s Auto. Those units were retailing for $9 million and $12 million, but Gordon said Flash Motors would also launch an EV priced well below the luxury segment.

“Later this year hope to unveil the most affordable EV on the market that will be very competitive with other ICE vehicles,” he said, referring to the traditional internal combustion engine vehicles.

There are fewer than 400 EV and hybrid vehicles operating in Jamaica. The vehicles are more expensive than gas-fuelled autos, but the elimination of two-thirds of the import duty on such vehicles, from 30 per cent to 10 per cent, is expected to make them more affordable and, consequently, more attractive to car buyers.

Stewart’s Automotive, which is one of the largest car dealers in Jamaica, holds the dealership for Mercedes-Benz, Land Rover, Jaguar, Mitsubishi, Suzuki, and Honda bikes. It also sells industrial vehicles and equipment.

Under their current distribution arrangement for BYD vehicles, Flash will import and supply the vehicles to Stewart’s Automotive Group and deal with the financing while Stewart’s will be the dealer with local rights to sell and service the BYD EVs in Jamaica.

“We still consider ourselves in the prelaunch stage. We are testing vehicles with corporate fleets. Fine-tuning with the manufacturer,” said Gordon, explaining that 2022 represents BYD’s first real foray into the regional English-speaking market and that Jamaica as a large member of that block was important to Flash’s plans.

Flash Motors will also consider expanding its range beyond BYD to include other EV makers.

“The Tesla opportunity is not available to us. But other brands are,” Gordon said.

steven.jackson@gleanerjm.com