Chevy Chase

NORZAHID Mohd Zahudi is not ashamed to tell his staff or anyone who would listen that he doesn't even have the "MCE" certificate.
An F9 for his Bahasa Malaysia paper saw the chief executive officer of Hicomobil Sdn Bhd finishing his Form Five in 1978 without a Malaysian Certificate of Examination certificate, the precursor of the Sijil Pelajaran Malaysia.
"I failed only the Bahasa Malaysia paper. I did very well in all other subjects but the (education) system dictated that I must pass the paper for me to get the certificate. And the system dictated that I must have that certificate to continue my studies," says the former Kajang High School student.
All his former employers knew that he did not have the certificate but hired him anyway.
"I would like to think that they hired me because they knew I was capable of doing the job. When I first met DRB-Hicom Bhd chairman Tan Sri Mohd Saleh Sulong, he asked if I could write in Bahasa Malaysia," he laughs.
Hicomobil is the wholly-owned subsidiary of DRB-Hicom Bhd. Norzahid reports directly to Saleh.
Hicomobil and Norzahid have one thing in common - both are new to the group.
Hicomobil was set up last September to distribute General Motors' Chevrolet cars in Malaysia. He joined the company three months later in December.
Despite being only six months old, the company is already giving other foreign car distributors a run for their money. Between September and December 2003, the company sold about 900 Chevrolet cars. December, the month which Norzahid joined, sales reached 282.
This was followed by the best monthly sales figure to date of 423 cars in January, despite the uncertainty then over car prices following the Government's announcement of a new duty structure for the industry.
Norzahid has nothing but praise for his sales team, attributing Hicomobil's performance to "good teamwork and strong effort".
"Chevrolet is a fairly new brand in Malaysia but is attracting a lot of interest. We know we have what it takes to do more," he says.
The Aveo is currently the company's best-selling car, making up 55 per cent of sales. Chevrolet buyers are aged between 24 and 42 years, prompting the company to push its offerings as vehicles for the "young and young at heart".
Norzahid is not a new face in the industry. He was with Perusahaan Otomobil Nasional Bhd (Proton) as regional manager for Europe between 1993 and 1996. Based in Kuala Lumpur, Norzahid travelled extensively to mainly the UK and Germany. At that time, his responsibilities included strategising Proton's thrust into Europe.
"That was a different ball game. In Europe, we had to sell Malaysia first, followed by the company, then only the product. We had Malaysian flags flying at our outlets. We had information on Malaysia in our offices.
"Why? Because we had to tell people there what and where Malaysia is before we can sell Malaysian products."
It's a different story now.
"Malaysians are affluent and they know the brand is American, although the Aveo is actually a Korean car while the Optra comes out of Thailand and the Lumina is from Australia. They know where quality is concerned, there is no compromise with GM cars."
Chevrolet is one of 12 brands under General Motors. The others are Buick, Cadillac, GMC, Holden, HUMMER, Oldsmobile, Opel, Pontiac, Saab, Saturn and Vauxhall.
In some countries, the GM distribution network also markets vehicles manufactured by GM Daewoo, Isuzu, Fuji (Subaru) and Suzuki.
Norzahid's experience with Proton proved invaluable as he was involved with all aspects of the group's activities: manufacturing, distributorship, dealership, sales, used car dealership, insurance, financing and consumer relations.
"In this business, we need to satisfy all seven parties in the chain - ourselves as the distributor, our dealers, the sales personnel, used car dealers, insurance companies, finance companies and the car buyers. If all the parties higher up in the chain are satisfied, the buyers will get what they want."
That is how Norzahid wants Hicomobil to operate. Specifically, he is looking at three key areas: infrastructure, human capital and processes.
"A business cannot operate if you don't even have one of these three components."
So, he is putting in place what he has accumulated from his previous 21 years of working experience, 10 of which were in international business marketing and business development, eight in project management consultancy, and three in internal auditing, personnel and industrial management.
Apart from the car industry, Norzahid had worked in the oil and gas, and services sectors.
His first "temporary assignment", as he calls it, was as a member of the army of construction workers building the Universiti Kebangsaan Malaysia in Bangi. He was 18.
He left after nine months when he came across some former classmates enrolling for courses at the university. It was the lowest point of his life.
"Malu-lah, I was a deputy head prefect in school, a top student who could have made it for overseas studies..." he trails off.
He left for Singapore to work as a factory hand but returned 1 1/2 years later when his father came for him. "He was my father, my mentor, my best friend. He asked me to come home."
Re-sitting the MCE was not an option. He didn't want to waste another year. Norzahid says he only had himself to blame for failing his Bahasa Malaysia paper.
"I took things for granted. Many other Malay students do too when it comes to Bahasa Malaysia."
But his government servant father was also partly at fault, maybe.
"When we were growing up, my dad used to tape the bottom part of the TV screen to cover up the Malay subtitles. He didn't want us to read the subtitles when watching English movies.
"And we had to read one article from an English newspaper a day, and at dinnertime he would ask us what we understood from that article. We also did not live in a dominantly Malay neighbourhood."
Back home from Singapore, he joined a company as a clerk. "I had to share a desk and a chair with a few others, and the immediate goal became getting my own desk and chair."
The break came when he joined Malaysia Mining Corp (MMC) in 1982 as an accounts clerk, and yes, he got his own desk and chair. Subsequently, he was promoted to the post of an assistant internal auditor.
"Well, I not only got my own table and chair but also my own room."
What next? A secretary? "Yes, I got that also."
In 1985, he left MMC to join Protek Consultant Engineers Sdn Bhd as project planning consultant, then another short stint with McDermott Engineering Sdn Bhd.
And it was in 1990 at Ranhill Bersekutu Sdn Bhd as projects management consultant that Norzahid was assigned to undertake tasks in Indonesia and Germany.
Three years later, he joined Proton as its regional manager for Europe, where the job specifications covered overseeing the group's management, sales and marketing operations there.
After four years, he became a director/general manager at Trisilco Sdn Bhd where one of his many tasks was to implement international marketing strategies for the technology company.
Today, heading a 30-odd strong team at the Hicomobil headquarters in Kuala Lumpur, Norzahid wants to change the negative connotation associated with a car salesman, or any salesman for that matter.
"Why is being a salesman seen by people as a last resort job? Is it because you don't need qualifications to be one?
"I feel that the industry, any industry, does not give enough recognition to salesmen. To my mind, they are entrepreneurs and they must be treated as such."
Norzahid, who has since earned the "appropriate paper qualifications" (a fellow of the UK Institute of Sales and Marketing Management and affiliate professional of the UK Chartered Institute of Marketing), has approached Boston University and Chartered Institute of Marketing to draw up training modules for his sales personnel to equip them to become entrepreneurs.
Most companies pay their sales personnel a basic salary and have a commissions-based incentive scheme.
"They are normally given targets. When they don't meet the targets, they get sacked. But we forget that we don't give them the tools to undertake their work. I've been there. I know the hardship faced by a salesman."
He has also introduced uniform at Hicomobil: a white shirt with epaulette, with "Chevrolet" embroidered on the left side of the chest, and 0041 Regular Fit 200 Lee blue jeans.
Since joining the company, Norzahid has held several dealers' conferences as well, principally to make himself accessible to the company's business associates.
"I want to understand them, their problems. I want them to know that I am prepared to work with them. Each and every one of them has my calling card. On that calling card is my handphone number. They can call me anytime."
Norzahid says he is not out to be a hero in the industry. "Heroes die young," adds this youthful 43-year-old who smokes 2through packs of Dunhill a day and several cigars at night.
With his plate so full, he doesn't have much time for himself and his family. Wife is bank officer Nor Aiza Mohd Jaafar and they have a 14 year old son, Muhammad Haziq Ashraf.
He is known to leave the office for home at Bukit Jelutong in Shah Alam very late at night.
Arba Abdul Rahman, head of the Hicomobil's sales division, says "the boss is still in the office at 10 pm on weekdays at times." The company observes a five-day work week and alternate Saturdays.
The avid golfer used to boast a handicap of eight ("...won myself a lot of microwave ovens") but now declares himself an 18 handicapper.
"Ahh, give me a few months..." he says, apropos, in both making an impact on the local car industry and a comeback on the golf course.