DESPITE the gathering of about 15 placard-bearing protesters across the road, Wednesday evening’s grand opening of the new Hyundai Jamaica Showroom on Old Hope Road in St Andrew went on as scheduled.

The protesters, who were orderly, said they were calling on Prime Minister Andrew Holness to boycott goods from the Dominican Republic.

“Look how dem a spend millions fi open showroom inna Jamaica and dem a treat the Haitians bad inna dem country?” said a Rastafarian protester.

He was taking aim at Hyundai’s new exclusive dealers in Jamaica, the Dominican Republic-owned Magna Motors.

Police soon intervened, and after a brief discussion the crowd dissipated.

Juan Vargas, managing director of Magna Motors Dealership Jamaica Limited, said he was surprised by the protest.

“Those statements are not true. We’re not racists, we’re not even white… We’ve been most suportive of Haitians,” he told Auto.

“We are doing everything by the book and following regulation. So basically, we don’t want to get in gossip. We want to sell cars,” he continued.

Meanwhile, Vargas said there’ll be a new energy with Magna Motors’ backing of the Hyundai brand locally.

“Our focus is service built on the modern premium philosophy of the brand,” said Vargas.

The new showroom, which took four months to construct, was built on half an acre lot and designed to hold eight vehicles, larger that than that in the Dominican Republic.

“We chose this location because it was available and central enough with New Kingston,” he said.

The new showroom is part of a $US10-million investment programme that started when the company entered the market last August with the service centre on Balmoral Avenue, St Andrew.

“We plan to double that figure by the end of 2017,” said Vargas.

According to the MD, Magna Motors will be expanding to the north coast with planned showrooms in Montego Bay and Ocho Rios.

“Hyundai is the fastest-growing brand in the world right now,” he said.

He went on to say that they have every intention of replicating that success locally by providing top-class service from start to finish.

Agustin Lama, president — Magna Group, explained that the Dominican Republic-based company, which is one of the oldest and the largest Hyundai distributor in the Caribbean, was asked by the brand to take over sales in Jamaica.

“Because we were doing such a great job in providing service in the Dominican Republic, Hyundai Motor Company asked us to do the same here in this market,” Lama said.

Like Vargas, he said the aim is to gain market share not by just sales, but providing service the brand expects.

“We expect in the medium-term to become the best brand, not necessarily focusing on sales, but in terms of service,” he said.

Also speaking at the opening was Edmund Bartlett, minister of tourism, who thanked Magna Motors for coming to the island and opening up further trade, tourism and commerce with the northern Caribbean.

— Story by Rory Daley, Brian Bonitto, and Lionel Rookwood