Carmart retains MTI to strategize family business legacy

Carmart, one of Sri Lanka’s pioneering auto businesses, has retained the services of MTI Consulting to chart the group’s strategic direction and to gear the business to capture the opportunities that the Sri Lankan economy will offer the transportation sector in the next five to 10 years.

Carmart was founded in 1948 by late Clarence P. Amerasinghe, who began by importing used Peugeot and Volkswagen cars. In 1953, the company obtained official agreements and became the authorized distributor in Sri Lanka for the brands. This family-owned business had evolved over the past six decades and has established its legacy not only in the Sri Lankan market but also in the Asian region as the oldest importer for Peugeot. 

Today Carmart is the Sri Lankan authorized importer, authorized repairer and spare parts distributor for Peugeot and Mazda and has just commenced working with Sinotruk, China’s largest export-market manufacturer of heavy vehicles.

Carmart Director and CEO Yasendra Amerasinghe said that this family-owned business had been through tremendous changes over the past six decades and has faced many operational challenges, namely in sales and marketing and HR. 

He further stated that the development of a strategic direction for the organisation will focus on improving sales and optimizing efficiency within the organisation and indicated Carmart’s plans to expand its range of models, as well as its return to the commercial vehicle segment.

MTI CEO Hilmy Cader stated that the strategic direction for Carmart will be recommended based on a combination of studies carried out by evaluating avenues to rationalize costs, analysing the organisation’s detailed financials and comprehensively assessing market insights. The project outcome will enable the directors of Carmart to focus on more specific areas of the business and the automobile industry.