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Bus operator Lorena to shift to high-end customers
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Mercedes-Benz Commercial Vehicle Department's marketing and after sales managing director Ralf Kraemer (second left), Lorena Transport president director GT Soerbakti (third left) and Lorena transport managing director Dwi Rianta Soerbakti (third right) pose during the launch of Lorena's new Mercedes-Benz double-decker luxury buses in Jakarta on June 6. (JP/dea)
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ublicly listed transportation firm PT Eka Sari Lorena plans to shift its market from middle-lower to high-end customers as part of its strategy to cope with its declining financial performance.
The company is currently revamping its fleet to enable it to provide better and more convenient services, said Lorena managing director Dwi Rianta Soerbakti in Jakarta on Tuesday
As part of the revamping program, Lorena purchased a dozen double-decker luxury buses from Mercedez-Benz at Rp 3.36 billion (US$ 252,461) each.
The company used about a half of the capital expenditures of Rp 80 billion allocated this year to buy the buses.
The company has suffered financial losses over the past two years due to tougher competition from other modes if transportation. The losses worsened to Rp 28.48 billion in 2016 from about Rp 1.65 billion in 2015.
“With the new business strategy, we will increase product differentiation by shifting our services from mass transportation to more limited transportation,” Rianta said.
Apart from serving a more segmented target, Rianta said, Lorena was eyeing to service routes that were not covered by railways and airways as they were believed to be the “toughest competitors”.
“These days, we are not being outrun by other bus operators, but by other modes of transportation, which excel in price and time efficiency,” he said. (dea/bbn)
