KIA Showroom: South Korea Invited to use Mauritius to Invest in Africa

Prime Minister Navin Ramgoolam urged South Korea to use the Mauritian financial platform for investment in Africa. It was during his speech yesterday on the occasion of the inauguration of the showroom ecological Kia (The Red Cube) in the presence of straws Alex Chung, Regional President of Kia in the Middle East and Africa, Clency Leal, Leal Group President and Co Ltd and Eric Leal, CEO of United Motors / Leal & Co Ltd. The head of government noted that the reduction of tariff reduction of sitting on the big guns in the country, made his request resulted in an increase in budgetary revenues to this item.

Investments of South Korea in Africa in 2011 totaled $ 40 billion, the Prime Minister noted. Navin Ramgoolam hoped that the country uses the Mauritian financial platform for investment in Africa, recalling the tax benefits and the possibility of concluding an agreement on the promotion and protection of investments with Maurice.

The Head of Government also noted the success of the Kia brand in Mauritius. She became the best-selling car in the island from 12th place to first place in the ranking of selling cars, he said. He also spoke of government measures to this effect. It is in this context that explained how he had convinced the Minister of Finance and his team down the right to sit on the big bikes.

According to Navin Ramgoolam, even if those who buy them are wealthy, it is difficult for a businessman to invest Rs 12 million in a car. He recalled that he told the finance minister that if the income tax on this item should fall, he would reintroduce the old tax. However, it turned out that more cars in this category have been sold and revenues increased. Tax on electric cars, for its part, was halved.

The Prime Minister noted that the number of cars on our roads has increased, reflecting the health of the Mauritian economy. 423,654 vehicles are currently registered in the NTA. In addition, 600,000 Mauritians are licensed to drive. The PM is back on measures taken to reduce the number of accidents, including the introduction of penalty points and the installation of a larger number of "speed cameras" on our roads. He also mentions the entry into operation of private operators to issue the certificate of "fitness" cars.

Navin Ramgoolam was surprised that the failure rate in examinations currently stands at 2%. "There is something unusual," suggested the Prime Minister.

Tribute to the Leal family

Navin Ramgoolam also paid tribute to the spirit of enterprise, efficiency and sense of leadership of the Leal family. Father Clency Leal, Michael Leal, was a member of the cabinet in the government of SSR. "He was a man of action and knew how to" get thing done. " "The Prime Minister noted that President Reagan had chosen businessmen to join his cabinet because he knew how to get things done. "This is what I want in my office," he said while joking about the risk that ministers take its place.

Kia showroom, which required an investment of Rs 90 million, is the fourth branch of United Motors Straws / Leal & Co Ltd after those of Renault, BMW, Mini Cooper. This space is known as The Red Cube can create a single identity for the brand with a sleek cars putting forward. It was built up in order to have optimum visibility from the highway through the large glass area.

The concept of "Red Cube" is also consolidate all brand activities under one roof. Reception, after-sales service and delivery area of new vehicles are on the ground floor of the building. The branch was built to green standards. Since 2012, the Group has invested heavily in Leal photovoltaic installations in line with the concept of "Maurice Ile Durable" and reduce energy bills.

Photovoltaic system

The KIA showroom is the first building in Mauritius that does not use the services of the Central Electricity Board. The building works with the latest battery technology Lithium Ion. They provide optimum storage of electricity during the day in order to reuse the night. This photovoltaic system was installed jointly by SETL (Mauritian company Group Leal) and meeco (his partner in Germany). With this latest installation, Leal Group now has four independent photovoltaic systems that generate more than 200 kW of electricity.

In addition, Eric Leal spoke of the creation last year of a workshop and a warehouse of spare parts 20,000 square feet UML straws. This space provides repair and maintenance of vehicles and GWM Kia. "Given the explosion in sales of both brands in 2011 and 2012, we needed to expand in order to ensure a quality service. Between the purchase of land, building and upgrading of the latter, this is a project that is approximately Rs 70 million, "he said.

Eric Leal hopes that United Motors-Leal & Co may reach the threshold of 1,000 vehicles in 2012 as this year despite the decline in sales of automobiles. "By maintaining our level of sales in a market gloomier we will help to increase our market share. The year has also started well, if we compare the figures for January and February 2013 with those of the same month in 2012, we show an increase of 16% but the year has just begun, "he said.

To date, United Motors Kia sells eight models (Picanto, Rio, Cerato, Optima, Sportage, Sorento, Carnival and K2700) with different engines, with manual or automatic and with different finishes, more than 35 versions in all!

A new Kia Cerato will be launched next month. The vehicle uses the same design Peter Schreyer who contributed greatly to the success of new models of Kia (Rio, Optima, Sportage) and has won numerous international awards Kia in terms of car design with four prestigious "Red Dot" Awards in 2013, a total of 10 "Red Dot" awards since 2009.

Publication of the newspaper "Advance" Friday

Questioned by the press, the Prime Minister said that the newspaper published Friday PTr Advance. On Sir Anerood Jugnauth, who made it clear he expected to be questioned by the police, Navin Ramgoolam argued that nobody is above the law. For him, the former President of the Republic is not a threat. "It's the past," he said.

With regard to the Parliament, the PM said that the work will start normally. "Do not underestimate Alan Ganoo, interim leader of the MMM," he said.

Moreover, when asked about the remarks of Father Jean Maurice Labour about Agalega, he observed that his words contain certain "falsehoods".