The Bufori Story

The Bufori Story

In 1986, Gerry Khouri, the younger brother of Anthony and George began work on a hobby, the simple aim of which was the desire to build three very special sports cars, one each for the three brothers. This dream was to become the start of a most exciting adventure, taking the whole Khouri family to new heights of achievement and involve them with some truly amazing people around the world, in a business that has turned out to be extraordinary in its size, amazing in its achievements and breathtaking in its future.

From very humble beginnings, 'The Bufori Motor Car Company' has evolved and developed into a highly reputable manufacturer of, attracting the attention of vast as well as lovers of fine quality automobiles from around the world, thus creating a sales market which very quickly began to propel this company to great success and a wonderful future.

The Bufori Motor Car Company Pty Ltd is a proprietary company limited by shares and registered in Australia as is the Bufori Motor Car Company (M) Sdn. Bhd. is in Malaysia.

Originally and over a ten-year period, all of the manufacturing and sales operations were conducted in Australia. However, the full production of the Bufori range of sports cars is now carried out at the new facilities at Kepong, a suburb of Kuala Lumpur, in Malaysia.

Housed under one roof, the Malaysian operations include a showroom, sales and distribution arm for the Asian region and local markets. From our premises at Concord in New South Wales, Australia, a well-established sales and hire showroom is from where the sales and hire business is conducted. Sales operations to North America and Europe are currently being established.

The 'BUFORI' story is one which is made up of many chapters, encompassing numerous points of trials and hardship as well as times of great joy and high achievement in a most hostile economic environment. All of this in a most exciting industry. The extraordinary facts of this incredible story would be of great interest to many people and make engrossing reading over an extended period of time. For now however, it will suffice to identify some key points which will give a brief outline of this extraordinary venture to date.

Born as a dream and an exciting hobby project, Gerry completed the first Bufori in 1986. Seeing the beautiful result and the immense public attention this car immediately attracted, the family decided that it would continue with this project and provide the financial support and infrastructure required for the establishment of a manufacturing facility which would produce these very special hand made sports cars.

As a result, in 1987, a factory was commissioned in the Sydney suburb of Merrylands near the city of Parramatta where some 50 specially selected and highly qualified personal were employed to begin production and set up a research and development operation to produce different Bufori models for production, as well as for the development of new technologies and prototypes of new production models.

Although these very special cars enjoy the classic 1930's looks, they are not reproductions or copies of any other cars. By retaining the classic look of the 1930's, they are timeless classics which do not date. From the very outset, the special and distinct market advantage Bufori has and continues to enjoy is the fact that all of these cars are completely and totally handmade. A Bufori car can only be purchased from the Bufori Company and only after having been completely hand built in the Bufori facilities by specially trained and qualified craftsmen. This makes these very special cars quite unique, as it seems that there are no other production cars on the world market which are produced in the same manner and which compare or compete with the Bufori range of cars.

From its inception and during its entire time in Australia, the Bufori operation neither sought nor was granted any government favors or concessions and indeed was subject to all of the highly demanding yet normal statutory regulations pertaining to the motor vehicle manufacturing industry. In addition, the extremely stringent Australian Design Rules (ADR's) which apply to motor vehicles to be registered for road use in Australia, had to be complied with.

The indirect advantage and result of this compliance was that Bufori cars were able to receive almost immediate acceptance in almost every country into which they are exported. and for seven consecutive years, Bufori was the only company producing motor vehicles in Australia, to enjoy the prestige of being licensed by the Advance Australia Council to carry the 'Australian Made' logo.

In spite of the fact that the roots of this company were conceived in the dreams and joys of a simple hobby, both this company and this extraordinary project have actually come to life as a genuine full time business venture. Employing scores of highly qualified and experienced craftsmen, training new people to become supreme tradesmen and creating new technologies, models and prototypes which are now destined to become even more attractive to an ever growing number of future 'BUFORI' owners around the globe.

Bufori very quickly began exporting their very special sports cars around the world and winning prestigious export awards for achieving success in what would normally be considered to be 'impossible' circumstances. With the ever-increasing demands of local and export sales during those first ten years of manufacture in Australia, the rapid expansion into four even larger factories became essential.

In spite of the hardships, the complete dedication, unshakeable faith and absolute commitment of the Khouri family to their Bufori dream and the desire to survive and succeed was immense and a most powerful driving force, continuously propelling them forward, confounding the skeptics and quashing any talk of failure.

Overcoming unbelievable obstacles from numerous fronts in the most hostile Asian economic downturn, the three Khouri brothers, Anthony, George and Gerry, together with their small but equally dedicated team of people fought long and hard to wrench back the remnants of Bufori from absolute oblivion. In future years, the ingredients and facts of the story of this extraordinary struggle will most surely be the subject of an intriguing novel and become spellbinding reading.

Fortunately, it seems that the Bufori venture was always destined to succeed. Turning their back on the unpleasant history of the past four years, in January 1998, the Khouri family set up a new 'Bufori' company and established a completely new facility in Kepong, Malaysia.

Since that time, new personnel have been recruited and trained. New plant and equipment has been purchased and commissioned and a new and fully functional facility has been established and is now fully operational. Under a single roof were the administration, sales showroom and manufacturing operations and all systems are now; GO!

On January 8 1999, His Majesty, Tuanku Ja'afar, the King of Malaysia made an informal and private visit to the new Bufori facility in Kepong where he witnessed first hand the rebirth of this truly great and exciting venture in Malaysia. He saw a highly streamlined operation where a large number of cars had been totally completed and being delivered to customers. A large number of cars in all stages of advanced production were on line and an eager and willing workforce, highly talented and well skilled in their craft, working on the new range of Bufori Sports Cars.

In its own right, Bufori has now been granted a new Manufacturing License, Pioneer Status and Price Selling Approval. Delivery of completed cars to customers both in Malaysia and all around the globe is well underway, with the sales books forever filling with new orders and our waiting list getting longer and longer.

Although active global marketing has not yet begun, past successful export experience from Australia plus most encouraging current local sales in hand, which have been achieved with minimal marketing, give us a very good and positive indication that this venture is once again, alive and well and indeed a winner which is set for a very prosperous future in this truly exciting industry.

From the very beginning and continuing to date, the enormous volumes of prime editorial media coverage have been most complimentary and on going, giving positive praise and encouragement to all participants in this breathtaking adventure.