Automotive distributor group Wearnes will sell Lotus sports cars in Singapore, Koenigsegg hypercars in the region

SINGAPORE – It’s all but official: Singapore-based distributorship group, Wearnes Automotive, has added Koenigsegg and Lotus to its stable of brands. 

UPDATE July 19, 2019: Wearnes Automotive has issued its official statement: “Wearnes will be undertaking all sales, after-sales, marketing and branding activities for Lotus vehicles in Singapore. The new showroom and workshop will be located at 45 Leng Kee Road, as part of the new eight-storey Automotive Centre.”

In Singapore, Wearnes currently distributes Alpine, Aston Martin, Bugatti, Ducati, Infiniti, Land Rover/Range Rover, Jaguar, Renault, and Volvo.  In the region, it holds distributorship and dealerships for a number of other brands, including Mazda, Lamborghini, Mazda, Mini, and Volkswagen, in China, Hong Kong, Indonesia, Malaysia, Thailand, and Vietnam.  

CarBuyer understands that the two brands will have showrooms at the company’s newly-revamped corporate headquarters at 45 Leng Kee Road. 

CarBuyer also understands that in Singapore, Wearnes takes over from previous Lotus distributor, Richburg Motors, which no longer seems to have a presence, as its website is non-functional and its Facebook page inactive since 2017.

Richburg itself took over Lotus from previous dealer Eurosports Auto (which currently sells Alfa Romeo and Lamborghini cars in Singapore) in 2015. Richburg was founded in Hong Kong, so at this time it is unclear if the distributorship remains in its hands in that territory. 

Lotus was established in Britain in 1948 by engineer Colin Chapman and became known for its competition success on track, and its lightweight sports cars on the road. Like many boutique sports car brands, Lotus has weathered decades of financial instability and ownership changes, and is currently majority-owned by Chinese car company Geely. 

The current Lotus lineup includes the Elise convertible sports car, the Exige (a coupe version of the  Elise), and Evora grand tourer.  

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For Koenigsegg, Wearnes will distribute the brand in Malaysia with no geographical constraints on sales. If that sounds strange, it’s akin to how Wearnes is distributor for Bugatti even if it can’t register any cars in Singapore as there are no right-hand drive Bugatti models, but still has numerous high net worth customers to serve.

In Singapore itself, the distributorship is still held by Motorway Pte Ltd. 

Founded in Skane, Sweden in 1994 by Christian von Koenigsegg, the Koenigsegg brand is best known for its ultra-high performance road cars and innovative engineering solutions.

Its current line-up includes the Regera, a more comfort-oriented gasoline-hybrid performance machine capable of 0-100km/h in 2.8 seconds and a 410km/h top speed. Above that is the recently-announced Jesko hypercar, which will have a planned top speed of 480km/h. In 2013, the Koenigsegg Agera hypercar sold in Singapore for a record S$5.3-million