MANAMA: Proper car care begins on the day a customer drives off in a brand new car and its owner can keep the vehicle looking just as good for years – or even decades – afterwards, according to the co-founder of a top car detailing studio.
Speaking during a tour of the Topaz Detailing Studio in Tubli, Nabil Naamo told car enthusiasts about how the company’s car care packages incorporate everything from enhancing, protection and general maintenance to home materials for household car care.
A state-of-the-art studio, designed jointly by Topaz UK and Al Haddad Motors Management, is the UK-based company’s first joint venture overseas. The facility development was completed by Al Haddad Construction.
“This is my first time visiting the facility – much of it was built over FaceTime and Al Haddad Motors’ team carried out a fantastic job bringing our joint vision to life,” co-founder Nabil Naamo told the GDN.
“We have carefully thought through every part of this site, from lighting to layout. The lighting for example, comes from the same manufacturers we use in the UK and is designed to diffuse light evenly across the car, so that every angle can be carefully detailed by technicians.”
Topaz UK, founded in 2009 by brothers Nabil and Mazin Naamo, has come to be associated with supercars with an eye-wateringly exclusive list of clients.
When they wanted to venture into the Bahrain and GCC market, Al Haddad Motors was the ‘obvious choice’ as a partner because of its reputable and well-positioned family driving the brand forward, according to the co-founder.
“All the stars lined up perfectly and despite the Covid-19 pandemic, it has been an absolute pleasure working with Al Haddad Motors to design this facility,” Nabil Naamo explained during the tour.
The facility is made up of two wings, in addition to the lobby and welcome area. In the back wing, customers’ cars are first washed in a dust-controlled, airlock-like environment – a critical step before detailing can begin.
Within the same wing, the cars are then detailed, with an extraordinary level of attention paid to even the hint of a smudge. “I would say 95 per cent of our clients bring brand-new cars to us,” Mr Naamo explained.
“Customers understand that car protection begins with a care package that often makes the car look even better than it did in the showroom. And, with the right protection, they can avoid stone and paint chips too.”
The goal, with the top level car care package, is for the vehicle’s exterior to look just like a mirror. This can take up to two weeks or around 100 hours of work. The price ranges from BD150 to upwards of BD1,500.
If the first wing represents the science of detailing, the second is all about the art. In addition to the application of Topaz’s proprietary TopazSkin self-healing paint protection, technicians can change the texture and add flair to every car, custom-printing panel coatings to the customer’s taste.
“Quality is the most important pillar in all that we do. And, along with that, is the customer journey,” he added.
“For the customer journey, we have created a glass window in the lobby from where they can see their car being worked on. We also walk them through the different areas and steps in the detailing, as well as the different car care packages available at this facility, from the car wash all the way to the proprietary TopazSkin application.”
This service starts at BD1,500 and can cost upwards of BD2,500, as the design choices and cars become more bespoke. And, each car is only worked on by one or two technicians at a time to ensure accountability and the closest eye-for-detail, as opposed to a group of detailers working on a single car at other detailing facilities.
The facility is helmed by brand manager Hadi Khlaif and operations manager Johan Pretorius, who lead a team of 20 carefully selected colleagues, many of whom have trained at the Topaz brand’s UK facility to develop the necessary eye-for-detail.
The result is some of the most skilled detailers and paint protection film installers in the region working on Topaz Detailing Bahrain’s client cars under the Al Haddad umbrella.
For more information, call 17782210 or visit www.topazdetailing.com
[email protected]