Wearnes Automotive Centre opens in Singapore

Wearnes Automotive Centre, along 45 Leng Kee Road.

Multi-brand distributor Wearnes Automotive unveiled its eight-storey Wearnes Automotive Centre today. The building is located at 45 Leng Kee Road.

Wearnes sees the Automotive Centre as crucial to its plans to meet growth in the number of high-net-worth individuals.

The 200,000 square-foot facility took three years to build at a cost of $30 million.

WHAT’S INSIDE?

The Wearnes Automotive Centre is separated into different zones that include 60 workshop bays, an exclusive club lounge and boutique displays.

It is also claimed to be the first to offer a climate-controlled car gallery storage area. Here, car collectors can store their prized rare and/or classic models.

However, Torque understands that there is a vetting process.

“Wearnes reserves the right to reject any vehicle that doesn’t meet its intake requirements. Priority will be given to classic cars and/or limited-edition supercars,” said a spokesperson.

To further enhance the customer experience, the Centre also offers conference facilities and EV charging stations. There is also a cigar bar.

Alpine A110 on display at the Alpine boutique at the Wearnes Automotive Centre.

BOUTIQUE BRANDS

Space along the motoring belts of Alexandra Road and Leng Kee Road is at a premium. So, lateral expansion is not always possible.

Andre Roy, Wearnes Automotive’s CEO said: “That’s why we decided on a tower instead. It enables us to bring new brands to market quicker than if we did it by laterally expanding a showroom.”

Said new brands now housed at the Wearnes Automotive Centre are Alpine, Lotus, Pininfarina and Rimac. Alpine is owned by Renault, but its sports car, the A110, is produced at a dedicated plant in Dieppe, France.

The Lotus franchise is also a new acquisition. Wearnes took over the distributorship from parallel importer Richburg Motors, which held it from 2013.

Torque learned that there are still two more boutique spaces available for new brands. But Wearnes Automotive is keeping mum as to what else they have planned.

Wearnes Automotive’s latest franchise is Rimac Automobili, a Croatian technology firm. It is know for producing high-tech, electric hypercars.

The Rimac C_Two at the Wearnes Automotive Centre.

RIMAC C TWO

The opening of the Wearnes Automotive Centre was also marked by the launch of the Rimac C Two. It is the latest hypercar from Rimac Automobili.

Packing a 120kWh battery, total output is an eye-watering 1888hp and 2300Nm of torque. With four electric motors per wheel, the Rimac C_Two does zero to 100km/h in 1.97 seconds and tops out at 412km/h!

Even more impressive is that the Rimac C_Two is supposedly capable of level 4 autonomous driving.