The brash CEO of Motor Image Enterprises has a new mission to transform Tan Chong International into a regional powerhouse. A task that will require Glenn Tan to trade in his no-holds-barred style for a more diplomatic modus operandi.

When Glenn Tan joined Motor Image Enterprises in 2001 (he became CEO six years ago at the age of 25), the company sold 800 Subarus in the region. Its sales has grown every year ever since, and last year it sold 3,388 cars in Singapore alone — 2.8 per cent more than in 2007.

In August this year, Tan was promoted to executive director of Hong Kong-listed Tan Chong International, the parent company of Motor Image, distributor of Nissan vehicles in the region and, more importantly, the company founded by his grandfather. He will continue to be group CEO of Motor Image.

Tan’s promotion makes him one of four senior executives who report directly to the chairman of Tan Chong, his father Tan Eng Soon. His mission is to modernise the entire group, integrate operations in the region and move into new markets and product categories.

Unlike Motor Image, which as a start-up operated like an adrenaline-fuelled teenager too naive to know when to quit, Tan Chong is the mature older brother who refuses to change a formula that has produced years of success. We did things very fast at Motor Image, so when I came to Tan Chong, people were afraid about what I was going to do to them. I told them that I’m not here to make their lives a living hell. I’m here to change the company and I want everyone to change with us.”

He admits that changing his way of dealing with people is a “work-in-progress. “But I believe I’m a lot more patient than I used to be,” he adds.

ANON PAIROT
THAILAND
COMPANY Anon Pairot Studio
www.anonpairot.com

X-FACTOR Avant-garde works fusing art with design.

CLAIM TO FAME For elevating design to a performance art and innovative use of materials to create new, fascinating forms. Pairot, 29, believes in having “no rules, to do it like it has never been done in the world before.” He has been lauded by influential Italian design director Guilio Cappellini, singled out by Wallpaper magazine and has recently been chosen to work with renowned Swiss design firm, Vitra.

WATCH OUT FOR More cutting-edge collaborations with Vitra Design Museum.


KENNETH COBONPUE
PHILIPPINES
COMPANY Kenneth Cobonpue
(www.kennethcobonpue.com) and creative director for furniture company Hive (www.h-i-v-e.com)

X-FACTOR Ultra-modern, eco-friendly designs that combine artisanship with new technologies.

CLAIM TO FAME For his sleek, sculptural rattan chairs and sofas that look as light as air and incorporate a unique tactile openwork structure. Cobonpue is the first Filipino designer to be included in the authoritative International Design Yearbook. Famed designers Marcel Wanders and Ross Lovegrove consult him on working with natural fibres, and architect David Rockwell collaborates with him for interior designs in W Hotels and Nobu restaurants around the world.

WATCH OUT FOR His latest projects experimenting with bamboo.

Here are some of the region’s top men behind the wheel to watch at the Singapore Grand Prix.

Melvin Choo
The is the only known full-time professional racer in Singapore and the first South-east Asian to compete and score league points in the World Touring Car Championships and the first Singaporean to race in the Super GT series. Having built a reputation by beating some of the fastest racers in the region, he secured a sponsorship from watchmaker Corum to race in the Porsche Carrera Cup.

Danny Watts
Having raced for 14 years, Danny Watts has been a teammate to Kimi Raikonnen and beat Lewis Hamilton in the Formula Renault race series in 2002. On the international arena, the 29-year-old has been racing in single-seater A1GP cars to touring cars in the prestigious Le Mans 24 Hours endurance race.

The Brit raced in the Aston Martin Cup Asia series last year. He returns this year to represent SC Global Racing in this year’s Porsche SC Global Carrera Cup Asia.

Ringo Chong
Inheriting the racing genes from his father who was a Singapore Grand Prix racer in the 1960s, Ringo Chong is a familiar face at races locally and across the Causeway. He was the youngest driver to win both the Tour de Singapore and Rally of Singapore.

When not conducting advanced driving courses in Singapore and China, he races competitively in both the Porsche Carrera Cup and Aston Martin Cup (AMC) Asia series. In the inaugural AMC race in Singapore last year, Ringo tasted sweet success when he came in first.