First Auto SXM, St. Maarten’s newest car dealership, is excited to serve the community with its amazing new product offerings and service. Specializing in Chinese auto-brands such as Great Wall, Haval, JAC, and the Korean brand SsangYong, First Auto SXM is able to offer sophisticated technology and design for a surprisingly low price-point, and plans to add innovative and affordable electric cars to the product offering in the near future.
While some consumers may hesitate to buy Chinese brands, First Auto SXM is very confident in its product offering. A three-year warranty stands for every car purchased, which includes free service. Having skin in the game, the company will also offer a courtesy car if a customer’s car repairs take more than 48 hours.
“There’s always hesitation when it comes to new brands,” says First Auto SXM General Manager Charles LeBlanc Morinière. “But it was the same thing for Kia, Hyundai, and Toyota many years ago.”
Chinese car brands have come a long way, and taking a peek under the hood will reveal that many components, including engines or automatic gear boxes, are in fact Japanese and also used by other, better known brands.
Many of them have long been in joint ventures with strong German, American or Japanese partner brands: Great Wall and Haval with BMW, JAC with Volkswagen, and SsangYong with Mercedes, for example. The joint ventures made better pricing for consumers possible; however, the companies were not allowed to export for some time.
Prices at First Auto SXM range from US $12,900 for the JAC J4, which includes a range of electric features, to US $33,000 for the luxury SUV SsangYong Rexton.
JMC Landwind has been popular in Curaçao for over 10 years and is also popular in the Dominican Republic. Landwind and Great Wall have been established brands in Brazil for at least 20 years.
Another benefit to the customer is being able to buy car parts right here on the island at an affordable price, rather than having to choose one option over the other.
LeBlanc Morinière knows what he’s talking about: He started working in the industry in 1985, selling brands like Hyundai, Suzuki and Daihatsu in his native Martinique. He has also worked in Martinique’s biggest car dealership, Centre Auto, and first came to St. Martin in 1997 to run Soremar.
Besides knowing the ins and outs of the industry, LeBlanc Morinière also points to the facts that the brands are performing well in China – the world’s biggest car market – and the country’s brands are very competitive in the manufacturing of electric cars.
Eyes on the future
Even the iconic Tesla is facing serious competition as Chinese car companies are “pumping out electric vehicles at an astonishing rate,” according to a Wired article published this month. Government-backing, strategic governmental policies and access to the largest domestic market in the world were cited as a few reasons why the upward trend is so strong.
Great Wall and Haval, in a joint venture with BMW will build a mini-electric car for worldwide distribution, while JAC is set to make electric cars for Volkswagen.
Electric cars are powerful, silent, don’t produce pollution, cheaper to run (US $20 to 30 per month), and easier to fix than cars with diesel or gas engines, though the prices have not been attractive to most consumers.
However, First Auto SXM plans to offer the innovative Haval H6 by the year 2020, which should be available for under US $20,000.
Despite Irma
There are two First Auto SXM locations, one on each side of the island, in Cole Bay and Grand Case.
After disastrous Hurricane Irma and the obvious obstacle that it represented in starting a new car dealership, it would have been easy for the company to give up. However, LeBlanc Morinière persisted and decided to give the business a chance for at least a year.
The first batch of cars arrived in November. The French side dealership opened its doors in December, and the Dutch side followed suit in July.
Today, First Auto SXM has confidence in doing business on the island and is hoping to gain the confidence of consumers with its quality offers and focus on excellent service.
Interested in learning more? Stop by the office and showroom at 26 Welfare Road, Cole Bay, or visit the French side location on Route de l’Espérance in Grand Case. First Auto SXM General Manager Charles LeBlanc Morinière or members of the team can be reached at This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it., info@ firstautosxm.com. To reach First Auto SXM by phone, call +17215441720 for the Dutch side or speak to Loïc Allamelou on the French side at 0 690 88 81 07.
