Carsome Indonesia beefs up brand and consumer marketing team with new lead

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Carsome Indonesia has appointed Rowan Suhendy as its head of brand and consumer marketing. Suhendy's (pictured) responsibilities include building Carsome’s brand image, presence, and awareness in Indonesia through all channels and ensuring they align with the brand's corporate image and identity. In his new role, Suhendy will report to Tan and Delly Nugraha, country head of Carsome Indonesia.

Derek Tan, chief brand officer at Carsome, told MARKETING-INTERACTIVE that Suhendy shares the brand's vision of elevating and reshaping the used car industry in Southeast Asia, with a main focus on Indonesia. "Suhendy leads a team of more than 10 to transform Carsome into the top-of-mind brand for used cars in Indonesia, demonstrating how we solve the many pain points associated with used cars to Indonesian consumers through strong branding and consumer marketing efforts," he added.

According to Tan, Suhendy is also working towards strengthening Carsome’s brand as a strong and well-known one that is able to form strategic partnerships and collaborations across industries to maximise its reach and broaden its appeal.

Tan also explained that Suhendy's previous role as head of marketing also covered retail expansion and trade marketing. "With Carsome’s rapid growth, it was a strategic decision to split the role into brand and consumer marketing, and retail and trade marketing, allowing each head to focus their efforts on their respective areas," he said. A quick search on LinkedIn by MARKETING-INTERACTIVE revealed that William Winardi currently holds the role of head of retail marketing at Carsome Indonesia.

Prior to joining Carsome Indonesia, Suhendy worked as a Product Planning and Program Manager, and later Sales Intelligence Manager at General Motors. He also previously worked as head of business development and intergrated marketing strategy at Panca Putera Nusantara, and product and pricing strategy manager at Ford Motor Company.

On Carsome Indonesia's marketing plans for next year, Tan said that the brand is planning a bold narrative that will evoke a fun and enjoyable atmosphere, with the aim of helping customers move forward with peace of mind while experiencing the brand's end-to-end solutions in mobility.

Separately, Carsome Group bagged US$170 million in Series D2 round of funding last month, which brought the company’s valuation to US$1.3 billion. This was complemented by new credit facilities of US$30 million, bringing total funds raised to US$200 million. The latest round aimed to empower its strategic focus on the growth and expansion of its B2C business, as well as boost its capabilities in strategic investments and mergers and acquisitions. The Series D2 round saw participation from sovereign wealth funds in the region and a pool of new international investors such as the internet group, Catcha Group, and semiconductor company, MediaTek. Existing shareholders such as Asia Partners, Gobi Partners, 500 Southeast Asia, Ondine Capital, MUFG Innovation Partners, Daiwa PI Partners, and among others also participated in the funding.

Carsome Group also acquired 19.9% of iCar Asia from Catcha Group in July this year. At the same time, Carsome and Catcha Groupcmade a joint proposal to iCar Asia's independent directors to acquire the balance of 80.1% of iCar from its shareholders. The total transaction was estimated to be worth over US$200 million and according to Carsome, makes it Malaysia's first tech unicorn. The proposal will also reportedly cement Carsome's position as Southeast Asia's most valuable digital automotive marketplace.

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