Wearne Brothers was founded in 1906 by two Australian brothers and specialised in automobile engineering and imports. It started off in Singapore as one of the early distributors of cars, its first brand being Oldsmobile. Later, it also expanded into Malaya as its business grew rapidly.
Wearne Brothers became one of the leading traders with the financial resources to extend into retail, setting up its own branches as well as subsidiaries to handle the different brands. This led to Malaysia being one of the few markets in the world which had more distributor-owned retail outlets than independent dealerships as getting into the motor business was expensive in the 1960s so it was only large groups like Wearne Brothers and Inchcape which could afford to do so.
Own assembly plant
Wearne Brothers also owned Associated Motor Industries (AMI), one of the first assembly plants set up in Malaysia after the government’s call to localise production was made in the mid-1960s. According to Eli Solomon’s ‘Malayan Motoring History’, AMI was a joint venture between Borneo Motors, Wearne Brothers and British Motor Corporation when it started in 1966. However, Borneo Motors exited the venture when it acquired the Toyota franchise and also began to build its own plant, Associated Motor Industries, not far from AMI in Shah Alam, Selangor.
Association with European brands
Wearnes was mainly associated with European brands, including Rolls-Royce, Jaguar and Opel, and only in its final years (through a joint venture) did it have a Japanese brand, Subaru, and assembled some models at AMI.
Wearnes (and also Inchcape) exited the Malaysian market in the early 1980s and the brands they handled were taken over by other companies. The two companies would, however, continue to operate in Singapore and other parts of the Asia-Pacific.
Return to Malaysia
Wearnes returned to Malaysia in the 2000s through Swedish Marque which handled Volvo. It broadened its portfolio with BMW and Volkswagen (from 2011) as well. But the Volvo business would cease in 2012 and BMW representation ended in 2019, while the Volkswagen business would close down in 2019.
However, Wearnes continues to have a presence in Malaysia today with high-end brands such as Aston Martin, Bentley and also a Honda dealership.