The automotive business is no longer about metal, rubber and horsepower. As vehicles evolve from mechanical machines into software-driven platforms – and as customers come to expect far more than a transaction – the companies that win will be the ones that put the customer, not the product, at the center of everything they do. At MSM Group, one of Mongolia’s leading multi-brand automotive groups, that shift is being led by an executive who has spent more than two decades inside the luxury automotive and Daimler ecosystem, from Korea to Dubai and now Ulaanbaatar. We sat down with Steve Jo, VP of Automotive at MSM Group, to talk about why he traded a hyper-mature Gulf market for one of Asia’s most demanding frontiers, what reliability really means at −40°C, and how MSM Automotive is transforming from a product-centric dealership into a customer-centric mobility partner.

From Technical Mastery to Customer Strategy

Steve Jo’s career has been rooted in the luxury automotive sector and the engineering excellence of the Daimler ecosystem. Armed with an Honours degree in Mechanical Engineering from the University of Canterbury, he spent over two decades building automotive operations across the globe – beginning at Mercedes-Benz Korea, where he managed warranty and planning, before moving to Dubai to head regional warranty operations at Daimler Middle East & Levant for five years. He then transitioned into retail with Gargash Enterprises and Gargash Group, spending more than a decade leading business development, network expansion, electrification strategy, e-commerce and business management. More recently he moved into lifestyle automotive events as COO of Octanium Group, home of Mille Miglia Middle East, while serving as Gargash Group’s Chief Customer Value Management Officer – before accepting what he calls “the incredible opportunity” to lead MSM Group’s multi-brand growth as VP of Automotive in early 2026.

That arc – from the workshop to the boardroom – mirrors the transformation of the industry itself. “I started on the pure technical and mechanical side, focusing on quality engineering, warranty and corporate standards,” he says. “But as vehicles evolved from mechanical machines into software-driven tech platforms, my role evolved into a strategic commercial one.” An MBA at Bayes Business School, with a focus on digital innovation and business strategy and analytics, accelerated the shift – taking him from localized operations to leading full-scale Customer Value Management, new business development and network transformations.

His conclusion is the thesis that runs through everything he says next: “Today, it’s not just about selling a car. It’s about customer-centricity, managing lifecycle value, data analytics, and leading the paradigm shift toward alternative powertrains.”

A Market of Extremes

Why leave one of the world’s most sophisticated automotive markets for a frontier? For Steve, that was precisely the appeal. Dubai, he explains, is a highly mature, hyper-saturated market – “an incredible sandbox” for testing new customer experiences and innovative touchpoints such as the Mercedes-Benz Brand Center and Off-Road Experience Center. But he wanted a fresh challenge, one where he could drive growth at a macro level in an emerging market. “Mongolia represents one of the most dynamic, frontier automotive environments in Asia,” he says. Joining MSM Group – a major market player backed by the regional strength of the Jebsen and Jessen Group – felt like the perfect alignment: a chance to apply the playbooks he had mastered in mature markets to a territory that is still developing, scaling and industrializing, and to vertically integrate a career spanning technical expertise to customer value management.

Mongolia still managed to surprise him. “Personally, the radical swing from +45°C to −45°C, and the altitude change from 25 meters above sea level to 1,300 meters, came as a huge surprise,” he admits. More telling was the market’s contrast between urban luxury aspiration and extreme operational reality. In Ulaanbaatar there is immense appetite for high-end brands like Mercedes-Benz and Ineos; yet the very same vehicles must endure some of the most unforgiving climates and terrains on the planet. “The level of resilience required from both the machinery and the dealer network here is unparalleled.”

The differences run deeper than weather. In the Middle East – a melting pot serving customers of diverse cultural and ethnic backgrounds – high-quality service, structured processes and standardized, digital-first experiences are the norm, supported by a mature and predictable business infrastructure. Mongolia, by contrast, relies far more on deep personal relationships, localized trust, local industrial networks and agile problem-solving. “Logistics are inherently more complex here due to geopolitics and geography,” he notes, “meaning supply chain forecasting requires a much higher risk tolerance and sharper contingency planning.”

Within those contrasts, Steve sees opportunity others overlook – and, characteristically, he frames it around the customer. “I look at the business opportunity from a distinctive perspective of customer-centricity,” he says, “placing the customer at the center of the automotive ecosystem.” The traditional product-centric model, in his view, can no longer support a sustainable business, and there is enormous room to enhance customer experience and journey. He also sees untapped demand for lifestyle-focused, rugged exploration: vehicles like the Ineos Grenadier, he argues, are perfect for covering the far-western frontier of the great Mongolian outback. “There is a major untapped market for lifestyle, rugged exploration utility vehicles that bridge the gap between heavy industrial use and extreme consumer recreation.”

More Than a Dealership: The MSM Group Advantage

Ask Steve where the sector’s biggest opportunities and challenges lie, and the answer is the same coin viewed from two sides. The opportunity is segment diversification – a mix of absolute luxury, extreme off-road and high-efficiency electric vehicles to match customers’ lifestyles. The challenge is the influx of unbacked parallel imports. “Our competitors often rush to import vehicles without a proper parts and service pipeline,” he says. “Our opportunity is to emphasize manufacturer-backed security, which parallel importers simply cannot copy.”

That security rests on a foundation Steve considers MSM Automotive’s single greatest advantage: an unmatched, diversified multi-brand ecosystem. MSM Group manages six major passenger brands – Mercedes-Benz, Ford, BYD, Jeep, RAM and Ineos – alongside commercial giants such as Fuso, all supported by OEM-quality service and repairs carried out by certified technicians using genuine OEM parts. “This gives us massive leverage,” he says. The toughest challenge, he concedes, lies in supply chain management, which demands constant flexibility across the ordering and logistics pipeline.

The competitive landscape, meanwhile, is “diversifying and modernizing at breakneck speed,” driven by a rapid influx of software-focused Chinese brands. MSM Automotive’s answer is to refuse the label of dealership altogether. “We are positioning MSM Automotive not merely as a car dealership, but as an advanced mobility and technology partner,” Steve says. That means heavy investment in network infrastructure, modernized brand centers, stronger service capability, and global customer-retention practices embedded directly into local sales funnels – plus deeper technical expertise in special-purpose modification to meet the bespoke requirements of B2B customers driven by their unique mining operations. “Our ultimate goal is to transform the product-centric sales organization into a customer-centric solution hub.”

What ultimately sets MSM Automotive apart, he argues, is lifecycle capability – owning the end-to-end journey for both retail and B2B customers. “We don’t just hand over keys,” he says. “We bring genuine manufacturer-trained technical expertise, certified parts and specialized industrial solutions.” Because the MSM Group also specializes in industrial applications and mobility solutions for highly specialized operations such as underground mining, it understands how to keep commercial and passenger fleets running under extreme duress – “a capability that standard retailers lack.”

Reliability as a Promise

If there is one lesson Steve believes newcomers underestimate, it is what he calls the “after-sales reality check.” Anyone can import an expensive vehicle into Ulaanbaatar; maintaining it through a −40°C winter is another matter entirely, requiring specialized fluids, electronic calibration and a bulletproof supply chain. “Newcomers often trip up because they fail to realize that in Mongolia, your business lives or dies based on your technical after-sales capability, not your initial sales pitch.”

It is why he treats reliability not as a slogan but as something earned. “Reliability is a value that can be built over a series of positive experiences over time,” he says – across every touchpoint and every channel. For the customer, it ultimately translates into absolute peace of mind, even when travelling to the most remote and rural provinces. “If a customer or an industrial partner is 600 kilometers from the capital in the South Gobi or the Altai mountains, reliability means knowing that we will support them.” Then the line that distills his entire philosophy: “Reliability is a promise that you will never be left stranded.”

Powering a Greener Frontier

On electrification, MSM Automotive is taking what Steve describes as a “proactive, infrastructure-led approach.” Every EV model is offered with a wall charger and its installation service, so owners can enjoy battery-electric ownership without charging anxiety. The strategy recently reached a milestone with the launch of a new BYD era in Mongolia, anchored by the opening of the group’s premier Four Seasons Garden showroom. Customer response has been incredibly enthusiastic, with a surge in sales – but pragmatic. “They look to MSM Automotive to provide structural reassurance, charging stability and battery warranties required to make EV adoption viable in cold climates.”

Sustainability, for Steve, is inseparable from that infrastructure – and a central pillar of the long-term strategy. “True sustainability in Mongolia means building the right green ecosystem,” he says. Through the partnership with BYD, MSM Automotive is introducing highly practical electric-mobility options to transition the local market toward cleaner air and smarter urban transport – a core ambition that aligns directly with the parent group’s mandate to ensure local economies are positioned to thrive sustainably.

ONE MSM: Building a Future-Ready Team

Behind the strategy is a culture Steve sums up in two words: “ONE MSM.” The executive and management teams, he says, represent “an incredibly rich tapestry of international and local talent,” and preparing them for the industry’s shifts means cross-training traditional mechanical technicians into software, diagnostic and electrical-engineering experts. The goal is a collaborative, mentorship-driven workplace where people see themselves as future-focused mobility consultants. Crucially, “ONE MSM” also means organic collaboration between sales and service – uniting the whole automotive unit behind a single goal of exceptional customer experience, and, with it, a genuinely customer-centric mindset.

Resilience in an Uncertain World

Few businesses feel global disruption as directly as one operating in a landlocked nation between Russia and China. The Russia-Ukraine war, Steve says, “completely re-routed the logistics map for East Asia and Central Asia,” severely constraining the traditional northern supply corridors. The response was to become far more creative, agile and resilient – establishing more diversified transit channels through central and southern Asian corridors to keep European brand-parts pipelines completely undisrupted.

That instinct reflects values Steve places at the core of how MSM Automotive grows: prudence and commitment. “We manage risk with rigorous checks and balances, while leveraging our deep regional partnerships,” he says. By working closely with world-class engineering suppliers – among them Kessler & Co in Germany, for heavy-mining and road-train axle solutions – MSM Automotive insulates its supply chain against volatility through direct, unshakeable B2B alliances.

The Road Ahead

Asked what advice he would give professionals entering the industry today, Steve reaches for a one of Jebsen and Jessen Group’s values: the “mackerel spirit” – a growth-oriented, relentless, entrepreneurial mindset. “The automotive industry is no longer just about metal, rubber and horsepower,” he says. “It is a convergence of data analytics, green technology, complex global logistics and luxury hospitality. Don’t limit yourself to one discipline. Learn the data, understand the engineering, master the customer journey, and never be afraid to transition across markets to challenge yourself.”

The traditional model of simply selling a product and a service, he believes, is fading fast against the rising expectations of customers. The new normal can be summed up in a single idea, customer-centricity, built on an exceptional customer journey and disciplined value management. “Have a holistic view of the automotive ecosystem, with the customer at the core,” he says, “and be flexible and agile enough to accommodate the fast-moving opportunity.”