- 7/1/2025
From a garage in Australia to handcrafted masterpieces in Malaysia, Gerry Khouri built a brand where every car is a sculpture of time.
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00:00The moment you make somebody smile, you know, we feel that we've already delivered on our promise.
00:04That's all we had to do.
00:05We only produce very limited numbers of cars, so we don't need to satisfy the world market.
00:10We're not out there to produce mass-produced cars.
00:12What we're trying to do is just satisfy a niche, people who appreciate the finer things in life,
00:17people that want something that's very different.
00:19And every Bafuri, just so you know, carries a Malaysian flag physically on the body of the car.
00:24We're very proud of that.
00:25And the most important thing to be in a situation that I'm in right now is to love what you're doing.
00:30And if you can't love it, you know, money alone can't make cars like this.
00:34Money alone cannot operate a business like this.
00:37And you've got to love what you do.
00:46And today we've got another guest with us for Life Confessions.
00:51And we're very excited to speak to the founder of Bafuri, Jerry Khoury, for joining us.
00:56Jerry, thank you for being here today.
00:57Pleasure, Terry. Thank you for having me.
00:59I'm so disappointed that our team did not organise for us to actually be in a Bafuri while we have this interview.
01:05We could always arrange that another day.
01:07You heard that? That's on camera now, yeah?
01:09Let's start with, you know, what inspired you to found Bafuri?
01:13Blending, you know, your Australian roots with Malaysian craftsmanship to revive the elegance of 1930s American coupes.
01:21It all started way back when I was a kid.
01:23You know, it all started with, you know, I love classic cars.
01:26I came from a family that loved cars.
01:28And I was fixing cars up in my backyard for a very young age.
01:33And one day I decided I just wanted to build my own car.
01:36And basically it all started just from the passion and the pride that I had for the work that I was doing.
01:43Right.
01:43Fixing cars and I thought, you know, I can do something a bit different to what everyone else does.
01:47Right.
01:48And instead of fixing a car, I thought I'm going to make one.
01:50Hmm.
01:51You know, but nobody really understood.
01:52You know, I came from a construction industry.
01:54Hmm.
01:54We're builders and carpenters and property developers.
01:58And what do I know about cows?
02:00But, you know, my heart was really into the machine, the engineering of it, you know, the design and function and form.
02:07You know, it was all very important to me.
02:09And that's really what started this whole journey for me.
02:13And you say that your family was a family of lovers of cars.
02:17Correct.
02:17Right.
02:17So does that mean that your parents, grandparents were...
02:20No, I didn't go that far.
02:21No, not that far.
02:22My father never drove a car in his life.
02:24My mother never drove a car.
02:27Your mother never drove a car?
02:29No, never.
02:30No, they came to Australia just after the Second World War and stayed there for the rest of their lives.
02:35And my brothers basically brought me up.
02:38I've got a big family.
02:39I've got five sisters and two brothers.
02:41And I was the baby in the family.
02:43And my brothers were the car guys.
02:45They loved, you know, they just like, they were very passionate about buying nice classic cars.
02:49And they had some fun with them.
02:51And I used to tinker with them and damage them.
02:54And when I damage them and make mistakes, you've got to fix them without them knowing about it.
02:59And it got me into the rhythm, you know.
03:01So I started to realise how things work and pull them apart and put them back together again until they became good at it.
03:07And I'm still blown away by how far you've come considering that your father never drove a car.
03:15Did your father ever, did your father see the business grow?
03:19So when I started, actually, my two brothers were the first to think that I was crazy.
03:24Yeah.
03:24And you want to give up this crazy building, this massive building career for a crazy car you've got to build in your backyard.
03:29And it was my dad that pulled $500 out of his pocket and said, you go out and you prove to your brothers and you prove to everybody that you can do this.
03:38And that's the fact of the matter.
03:40That is exactly what happened.
03:41It wasn't about the $500.
03:42$500 doesn't do much, especially in those days.
03:46But it was the moral support that I needed from him.
03:49The belief.
03:49Yeah, the belief.
03:50And I used that $500 and I just made sure that I'm not going to fail.
03:54Yeah.
03:55And I didn't fail.
03:56And that was in 1986.
03:59And here we are, 40 years later, and I'm still doing it.
04:0240 years later.
04:04When you think, when you say it out loud like that, 40 years later, how does it feel?
04:08And would I ever guess that I'd be doing it 40 years later?
04:11I would never have guessed that.
04:12Not in a million years.
04:13Right.
04:14And the intention was never to go into business.
04:16The intention was always to just produce one car.
04:19That's all it was.
04:20But then when that first car was finished, my two brothers wanted a car each.
04:25Right.
04:25Each time I'd build it, somebody would buy it.
04:27Right.
04:28And then it took my brothers something like 16 years or something like that before they got their cars.
04:33Right.
04:33And their cars actually came from Malaysia.
04:35Oh.
04:36So, you know, all that time I was in Australia before coming here, my brothers kept on wanting their cars.
04:43Yeah.
04:43And they kept waiting, waiting, waiting.
04:45And they could never get a car that was made in Australia for me.
04:49So, only after we built cars in Malaysia, I was able to send some back to Australia for a motor show.
04:56Even your own brothers had to wait.
04:57Correct.
04:58Yeah.
04:58It's the unfortunate part of this story.
05:01I have to ask, how long did it take to build that first car?
05:03Literally just over 12 months.
05:05That's it.
05:06It was very fast.
05:06It was a very basic car, a very simple car.
05:09But it made an impact.
05:11You know, it had the styling.
05:12It had the quality.
05:13It had the attention to detail.
05:15Yeah.
05:15It had the flowing lines of the 1930s.
05:17You know, everything about that car was just remarkable.
05:20It wasn't about how fast it could go.
05:23It was about the statement that it made just by looking at it.
05:27You know, nobody could walk past that car without being gobsmacked.
05:30So true.
05:31That very first car, it's here in Malaysia now.
05:34In fact, that very first car that I made, I hardly ever drove.
05:37Right.
05:38People used to pay a fortune just to drive it.
05:41Not even on it, just to drive it.
05:42Just to drive it.
05:43And they'd use it for wedding parties.
05:45They'd use it for engagements.
05:46They'd use it for divorces.
05:48They'd use it for any occasion.
05:49For divorces?
05:50Absolutely, yeah.
05:51Of course, yeah.
05:52Celebration.
05:54And I hardly ever, ever drive that car.
05:57It was driven by every man and his dog, except me.
06:00The man who actually made the car, right?
06:02Yeah.
06:03You know, you've come a long way since the beginnings.
06:06It's been, like you said, 40 years.
06:08What core design principles ensure that a Bufari feels as elegant today
06:13as it will like a century from now?
06:16Because those first cars that you built even now are still being appreciated.
06:19So what keeps it?
06:20Everything about a Bufari is very different to every other car in the world.
06:24And we don't build a car around a price.
06:27And a Bufari is not about buying parts off the shelf and putting them together
06:31and expecting this car to come out looking like what it does today.
06:35So a Bufari is designed to last forever, literally, for generations.
06:39So a Bufari car is not designed like a normal car where you replace parts when they fail.
06:44You service every single individual component that's on that car.
06:47So every single car is built for a purpose.
06:51It's built to tickle the fancy of every single individual customer that we build a car for.
06:57In case you don't know, Bufari has never built cars and sold them.
07:02That's not how our modus apprendi is, not to make cars and sell them.
07:05We make cars to order.
07:07And every single car is the finest tailor-made suit you can buy with man.
07:11Nothing starts without a person first coming forward and saying exactly what they want.
07:17And that's exactly what they get, exactly what they want.
07:19If they want something, they'll get it.
07:21Is there a design element that they might ask that would take it too far away from the vision of Bufari
07:26for you to say then, this wouldn't coincide with the ideal of the company?
07:33Not really.
07:35When somebody wants a car like a Bufari, usually they respect our opinion.
07:40And we'll work with them to conceal or to integrate all the crazy things that they might have in their minds
07:46without distracting the real intention of the design.
07:50Tell us about some of the crazy things that you're talking about.
07:54Gosh, it could be a simple thing like a lady's makeup box.
07:58Okay.
07:59Where you press a button, the compartment comes out, your makeup is inside and a little mirror pops up.
08:04Right, and the makeup artist is there.
08:06Yeah, well, kind of.
08:08We've got a customer who wanted a steamer because he didn't want to crease his collar when he gets out of the car.
08:13No way.
08:15And we do things like...
08:16He's got a steamer?
08:16A steamer of the car, yeah.
08:18That is the best.
08:19I don't think we've got better ones coming up.
08:21And we do things like Chinese T-shirts.
08:23No.
08:23We've been doing them for a very long time.
08:25You literally press a button, faster than you can count to two, boiling water comes out.
08:31My first car overheated, so I thought that that was a bad thing.
08:35This was a feature for this car.
08:37We can use our boiling water.
08:39No, but this is drinking water.
08:40And then when you drink Chinese tea, for example, you need to wash the tea.
08:44Right.
08:45So we've got everything, including the kitchen sink.
08:48So you can wash your tea.
08:50There's a place to wash it.
08:50And you can pour your tea, pour the water down the drain, through the sink, and then top it up again.
08:56And then that's the tea you're going to drink.
08:58I am amazed by the amount of features and what you can put into a Bufari.
09:03But you drive a Bufari yourself more than one.
09:05In fact, what's a special feature that you have in your own car?
09:08Mine is a fairly low-spec car.
09:11These are very rare commodities to produce.
09:14When you remember, it takes 9,000 hours to make an entry-level car.
09:18We can't afford to build a luxury car or a high-spec car for me because I'm not important enough.
09:23You are not important enough.
09:24The customer is prime.
09:25Okay, so customer is the most important.
09:28And we've got a long waiting list, and the idea is to produce cars for customers, not for ourselves.
09:32Right.
09:33So even though I drive a nice car, and I've got a fleet of Bufari's,
09:37but my daily car is a Geneva, which is a very well-appointed car.
09:41It's not the most high-spec car of all, but it's still very well-appointed.
09:47It's the most beautiful car to drive.
09:48From a technical point of view, that car there, to me, is the greatest car you will ever drive.
09:54A technical point of view.
09:55So if you're a driver and you want to drive a car yourself at high speed and throw it into corners
10:01and do the things that you're not supposed to do on public roads,
10:04then no car will give you more exhilaration and more joy, I promise you,
10:08than this luxury limousine that we produce.
10:11Right.
10:11It's not a biased opinion.
10:12Right.
10:13You know, we put these cars on racetracks.
10:15You know, these have been – they spend a lot of time at Sepang with different drivers every weekend.
10:20Right.
10:20It's used as a medical car at Sepang racetrack.
10:24Right.
10:24And the drivers who drive it can't wait to get back into it.
10:27You know, when you don't give them the car for the day, if we please have it, you know,
10:31we're going to drive this, we don't want to drive anything else.
10:33Right.
10:34And that's why it's as popular as it is and why you're doing as well as you are.
10:38And if you look at the people who buy these cars,
10:40they're not the car collectors that everyone knows about.
10:42These are the quiet car collectors.
10:44These are the guys that really, really know the difference between what is good and what is not so good.
10:49Right.
10:50We're not selling cars to the guys who promote themselves as car collectors.
10:55Okay.
10:55We're selling cars to the people who don't need to promote themselves.
10:59Right.
10:59Not many people know about them, but those that are in the know know exactly who they are.
11:04The true connoisseurs of cars.
11:06The true connoisseurs.
11:06The car connoisseurs.
11:07Yeah.
11:07You must get so much feedback about the cars because of how much people appreciate it from the customers who've actually bought your cars.
11:17What's some of the things that they've said?
11:18Just to give you an example.
11:18We've got the very first Geneva we made was for an elderly chap.
11:22The family bought the car for him for his 80th birthday.
11:26The car didn't exist.
11:28We had to invent this car literally in something like 90 days.
11:31Right.
11:32Which is technically impossible.
11:34But we made a promise that we'll deliver something that we can deliver on his birthday.
11:39Take some photos and then we'll take the car back and we'll do what we need to do and then we'll return the car to you later.
11:44Oh, okay.
11:45But that first car that we made stayed with them until today.
11:50Oh.
11:50We made that car working 24-hour days.
11:54The factory doors never close.
11:56Most of the workers slept in the factory.
11:58Right.
11:58And we had people from the neighborhood like restaurants and people just generally come over just to sit there 4 o'clock in the morning, 5 o'clock in the morning.
12:07They pull up a plastic chair and they sit there and just watch everybody building this car from nothing.
12:12And it happened.
12:13It happened, yeah.
12:14It delivered the car.
12:15We drove the car to him.
12:17And if you listen to the testimony of this particular customer, he's passed on now, unfortunately.
12:22But I remember him saying, and he's got the best cars you can drive with money, the most expensive, luxurious cars.
12:29And he always said to me, this is my favorite car.
12:32And when he goes to Port Clang, this is where his hometown was, and this is his favorite car to drive him.
12:38Wow.
12:38And it carried a lot of sentimental value because it was chosen by the family.
12:42And the family specced the car for him.
12:45And everything about it was personalized.
12:47It had his name all over it.
12:48Right.
12:49It's joy.
12:50It brings joy to people.
12:51It makes you, it puts a smile on your face.
12:53Yeah.
12:54And the moment, the moment you make it, you make somebody smile, you know, we feel that we've already delivered on our promise.
13:00That's all we had to do.
13:01Right.
13:01Just build a car that can make people happy with that.
13:03Yeah.
13:04You don't have to drive it.
13:05Just the moment you see it, it makes you smile.
13:07And I think, you know, we've already delivered.
13:09Yeah.
13:09Yeah.
13:10It's amazing.
13:11And we know that the Buforis has a 1930s aesthetic and design to it.
13:18Now, some people might feel that sticking to that nostalgia of the 1930s may feel like it's perpetuating a design that's stuck in time.
13:28Right.
13:28Instead of pushing automotive design forward.
13:32Right.
13:32What do you think, what do you say to people who have this, have this opinion?
13:35A Bufori is a classic, is classic in design, but it's contemporary in function.
13:42So it's a real mix of contemporary classic.
13:45Right.
13:45And the reason we say that is not everybody out there likes a modern design car.
13:52It's, and before it's not for everybody.
13:53We're not suggesting that everybody out there wants one.
13:56No, that's not the case.
13:57Okay.
13:57So we're only trying to, we're very niche.
14:00Yeah.
14:00So we only produce very limited numbers of cars.
14:03Yeah.
14:03So we don't need to satisfy the world market.
14:05We're not out there to produce, mass produce cars.
14:08What we're trying to do is just satisfy a niche.
14:11People who appreciate the finer things in life.
14:13People that want something that's very different.
14:16Nobody can ever deny the fact the most beautiful cars in the world are from the 1930s.
14:20Yeah.
14:21And that's all we're trying to do is to compliment the 1930s.
14:24Yeah.
14:25What a lot of people don't realize is before he's got a lot of firsts in the automotive industry.
14:30So we are the first car in the world to be made out of the most advanced materials on the planet,
14:35known as carbon fiber and Kevlar, which we start to...
14:38It's like bulletproof material.
14:39Well, Kevlar is bullet resistant.
14:41Yeah.
14:41And we do make bullet resistant cars.
14:43You know, we can make bullet resistant cars to any level of threat that you want,
14:46even armor piercing, without using steel.
14:49So traditional materials are steel.
14:52So we use, we're innovative.
14:54So we've been building cars using the most innovative,
14:57most state-of-the-art materials known as carbon fiber and Kevlar.
15:00Right.
15:00Only today you're starting to hear about Airbus and Boeing and the hypercar industries
15:05and everyone else starting to use these materials.
15:09They don't use it in the entire vehicle, but they do use it in some parts of the car.
15:13Right.
15:13So anyone who would have this opinion about the aesthetics being stuck in time,
15:17just that it's not the car for you.
15:19It's not the case.
15:19It's not the case, actually.
15:21Yeah.
15:21It's not the car for you.
15:21And unlike many other car companies, not many,
15:23but there are other car companies who produce contemporary classics as well,
15:28when you look at those cars, you see the technology.
15:32You see the mismatch between the modern and the old.
15:35When you look at a Bufourri, you don't see the modern and the old so much.
15:39What you see is it all fits in.
15:41It's all in its right place.
15:43Speaking of the cars, you know, each Bufourri Geneva requires like 9,000 man hours to build
15:49and that's just entry level.
15:51It's entry level.
15:52Right.
15:52And production is capped at like under 50 units per year.
15:56How do you manage the tension between maintaining the exclusivity of these amazing cars
16:01and meeting potential customer demand?
16:04Because I'm assuming that there's more demand than there is supply here.
16:08Let me put you in a little bit of perspective, a bit of a deviation from your question.
16:13Our installed capacity in our factory here in Malaysia is,
16:17but this is the only factory we have worldwide.
16:19Right.
16:19And the installed capacity in this factory is 25 cars a month.
16:23That's 300 cars a year.
16:24Right.
16:25The unfortunate path for Bufourri, though, is we're not able to produce the numbers
16:29because we just don't have enough talent available to produce enough cars.
16:34So it's been a challenge for us.
16:36And the reason we've capped that at 50 cars, which is also very, very difficult to achieve,
16:40is because the workforce we've got, we just don't have enough quality people.
16:45I mean, it's very difficult to find in this part of the world.
16:49And we play well.
16:49The skills.
16:50The skills are available.
16:51Now, but how do we balance this?
16:55Economists, so we're a company that is primarily focused on quality and not quantity.
17:00It's not how fast you can make a car.
17:03It's how well you can make the car.
17:04That's really, really the most important thing for us.
17:07Now, we're far from perfect.
17:08But although we're determined and we try and we strive and we work very hard to produce
17:15the best handmade car in the world, we fail.
17:18You know, we're not the best handmade product in the world by any means.
17:22But we're probably the best handmade car that you can possibly make.
17:28I'm not sure if you know how much of a car is handmade.
17:31In Beforey, we're not like other big car companies who say their cars are handmade,
17:37who go and buy parts and put them together and they come up with a car that's got a nice
17:41name on it and they do a few things by hand.
17:44That's not what a Beforey is.
17:46Beforey is a car that is literally, literally handmade.
17:49We make a chassis.
17:51We make the body.
17:51We make the suspension.
17:52We make the interior.
17:53We make the seats.
17:54We sew the leather by hand.
17:56We do the woodwork on the dashboards.
17:58And all these are the ones that we're specifically for?
18:01Yes.
18:02And we make the computers and we do the software development.
18:05We do the programming.
18:06We make the Starry Night.
18:07We make the components.
18:08We make a door hinge.
18:09We make the window mechanism.
18:11We make the air conditioner.
18:13We make just about everything on a car.
18:16And it's all made under one roof.
18:19Nothing in a Beforey is done outside of our factory.
18:22We don't subcontract out anything.
18:24Everything is done literally under one roof.
18:26And it's all with our own talent.
18:29And if it was easy, then there'd be a million companies like us trying to do the same thing.
18:33There's not.
18:35We're one of probably four or five companies in the world that have been producing cars by hand for this long.
18:41I think we're the second largest, second longest surviving company.
18:45There is one British company who's been around for about 100 years and they're still going.
18:50We've been around for 40 years.
18:51And the other two or three have only been around for 10 or 15 years.
18:56Right.
18:56So we've survived.
18:58We've survived the test of time.
18:59And hearing you talk about the amount of work that goes into creating a car with the artisans that are under one roof, right?
19:11So does this mean that with the fact that you can't find as many artisans and specialists as you need?
19:19Is there an ongoing effort to actually create these artisans or nurture these skills?
19:27Yeah, there is, of course.
19:28There's a lot of things that we do.
19:30First of all, when we recruit people, we recruit them on face value.
19:35Their CVs these days mean nothing.
19:37Everyone comes up with a nice piece of paper that tells you how great they are.
19:40But actually, at the end of the day, they really mean nothing.
19:43What really means everything to us is their attitude.
19:47And we'll bring them in.
19:48We'll give anybody who wants a job, we'll give them a job.
19:50If you're prepared to work hard and work honestly, then there's a job in before you for you.
19:55And then we'll rotate you.
19:56We'll put you in one place.
19:58You could come in and tell me you're the greatest painter in the world.
20:00And I'll put you in the paint department.
20:02And then I'll move you from there.
20:04And I'll put you in the trim department.
20:05And then I'll put you in the metal fabrication and composites and mechanical.
20:08And then we sit down together.
20:09We're going to work out really where you're most suited.
20:12Right.
20:12And 99% of the time, people who think they're good painters or good mechanics never end up in that area.
20:18What?
20:19They actually have a hidden skill that they never even knew existed in them.
20:21Right.
20:22And that's the greatest thing that we do.
20:24Now, what we're trying to do to improve our skill sets and to improve recruiting more people
20:31is we've been trying to create an academy, a before-year academy.
20:35Right.
20:35Without going into the details, it's very, very different to everything else out there.
20:39But it's an academy that teaches true craftsmanship.
20:42We're not teaching you a crash course on how to become a mechanic in 12 months or in three months.
20:48What we're teaching you, it's a five-year program.
20:50You know, these days, a doctor studies for five years to become a qualified doctor.
20:56And every year, he's got to go back for a refresher course.
20:59Right.
20:59And the human body hasn't changed in the last hundred years, thousands of years.
21:04But a motor car changes every day.
21:06Today's car, tomorrow's cars are very different in technology.
21:09Yeah.
21:09And a mechanic who learned for three months under a banana tree has got a license or a certificate
21:14that says he's allowed to work as a mechanic.
21:16And he suddenly knows everything about the cars of the past and the cars of the future.
21:21He doesn't have to do a refresher course.
21:23And cars are lethal weapons in the wrong people's hands today.
21:27Cars have become so electrified.
21:29Steering is electric.
21:30Brakes are electric.
21:31If they don't know what they're doing, you've got a car that's lethal.
21:35Yeah.
21:35So, and what do they do about teaching these people about how to ensure safety and ensure
21:41you're compliant to the standards and the original intention of the design of the car?
21:45Nothing is done.
21:46So, we're trying to create this academy that allows us to teach people over a five-year
21:52period with refresher courses every year.
21:54Right.
21:55So, they become qualified tradesmen, not workers.
21:59And that's a big word.
22:00And you can't expect the mechanic to also do your upholstery and to also fix a window
22:05mechanism and to also change a windscreen and to also fix the bodywork and fix the paintwork
22:10and fix a dent.
22:12A mechanic should be just a mechanic.
22:14A painter should be a painter.
22:15A panel bearer should be a panel bearer.
22:17Yeah.
22:17Another thing we're doing is we've created this.
22:22It's a very interesting program for schools.
22:24Oh, I read about this.
22:25Yeah.
22:26So, we make these cars.
22:27It's called Before Your EV.
22:28EV, EV, IE, Electric Vehicles in Education.
22:32And the idea of these cars, they're basically electric cars that school kids will assemble
22:36in a classroom in 31-hour lessons.
22:39And the intention here is to teach children the fundamentals of engineering.
22:44Right.
22:44So, what we're trying to do here is we're trying to teach young people how to think logically.
22:49Yeah.
22:50How to use common sense.
22:51Yeah.
22:51Question everything.
22:53Yeah.
22:53And, you know, basically what this is going to do is it's going to point them in the direction
22:57of becoming engineers in the future for companies like us because there's always going to be
23:02a demand for hand craftsmanship.
23:04And not only is it giving them those skills, but it's also piquing their interest.
23:08Exactly.
23:08It gives them an opportunity to be hands-on with something.
23:11Correct.
23:12And another thing they learned from this would be something very much lacking today, which
23:17is delayed gratification.
23:18Yeah, exactly.
23:19Because they have to build this entire car over the course of perhaps a year.
23:22Yep.
23:22And at the end of the day is that race that happens.
23:26Because they can actually physically jump into it and that can drive it.
23:29They can turn the serial wheel.
23:30It's going to rotate.
23:31Yeah.
23:31They can put their foot on the brake.
23:32It's going to stop.
23:33They accelerate.
23:34It's going to go forward.
23:35It's got all the right things going for it.
23:37And this is exactly what you want.
23:39Okay.
23:39So it's lacking these days.
23:41So, you know, it goes even beyond that.
23:44And what we're also doing is to entice these students or these school kids not to give
23:51up after the first 12 months or the first program.
23:54When they move up a class, they go from year 7 to year 8 or year 9 or year 10.
23:59Every year, the intention is for the cars to evolve.
24:02Right.
24:02So, you know, by the time they finish school, they become, you know, basically they become
24:07engineers already because they've been so exposed to the technical aspect of a motor
24:13car and how to build it, how things work.
24:15Right.
24:15And more complicated cars along the way.
24:17That's right.
24:17The car evolves and becomes more complicated.
24:19It teaches them how brakes work.
24:21Right.
24:21And it teaches them these things and it makes them question.
24:23And then they'll start to understand.
24:25And by the time they go to university, you've got a really good foundation to start with.
24:29Right.
24:30And this is what excites us.
24:31This is what we need.
24:32This is what we want.
24:33Right.
24:33This is the direction I think that we all should be working towards.
24:36You're almost literally making your own future Bufari engineers.
24:41Next generation.
24:42Yeah.
24:42We're going to create the next generation.
24:43Right.
24:44And what better way to do it than, you know, by the time these kids get to year 11, Bufari
24:48becomes a household name.
24:50Yeah.
24:50You know, we believe there's a demand for over 2,000 cars a year.
24:53We've already got schools from as far as Switzerland to Vietnam to Australia and Singapore and the whole world.
25:00Greece even.
25:02Portugal.
25:02We've got them all over the world, you know, literally.
25:04That's a little bit of a peek into the future of Bufari already.
25:08That's one.
25:08Being able to produce more cars.
25:10You need more craftsmen as well.
25:12And you've started Academy for that.
25:15What else can we see for the future or in the future of Bufari in the next decade, let's say?
25:20We've got a new model that we're about to launch.
25:23It's a very different car from Bufari.
25:25It's not a classic.
25:27It's a contemporary design.
25:28Right.
25:29We intend to launch it in August, before the end of August.
25:33And it's launched, I mean, it's strategic.
25:35It's about Medeca.
25:37And, you know, we believe we're the pride of the nation.
25:40And every Bufari, just so you know, carries a Malaysian flag physically on the body of the car.
25:46Right.
25:47So we're very proud of that.
25:48And we thought there's no better time to launch this new sports car other than the Medeca Day or the Medeca Weekend, something like that, or the week before.
25:56Would this be the first contemporary design?
25:59Yes, it will.
26:00We've built pre-production cars over the last 10 or 15 years.
26:04But this is the first production car that will be built as a modern contemporary design.
26:10Right.
26:10It's a high-performance supercar.
26:13It's very, very fast.
26:14It's very rapid.
26:15It's got road holding like nobody's business.
26:18It's gorgeous to look at.
26:19And how many will there be for...
26:21So we're targeting 60 cars a year.
26:23Six.
26:23And orders have already come in.
26:26We haven't even built them yet.
26:27We've only built the first pre-production car.
26:30Right.
26:30Production is starting as we speak.
26:32But the first pre-production car is about to come out.
26:35And we're doing testing on that car right now.
26:39Yeah.
26:39And orders have come in.
26:40And it's exciting stuff.
26:42Really exciting.
26:43Wow.
26:43Very exciting for the company.
26:44And that's going to be around Medeca, right?
26:46You said?
26:46Before Medeca Day, yeah.
26:47Right.
26:48And another interesting thing we're working on is we've got our own EV technology, which is very, very different to what everyone else is doing.
26:56Right.
26:56Not to suggest that everyone else is wrong and we're right.
26:59It's just something different.
27:01Right.
27:01It's a competitive world out there.
27:03And we've got technology.
27:05And we just want to showcase an alternative fuel that can be used for powering a motor vehicle.
27:10Right.
27:11So we're going to look forward to finding out what this is.
27:14Keep an eye out for us.
27:15In the next interview that we do in a Bufori.
27:18Yeah.
27:18In a Bufori.
27:19Well, yeah.
27:19Maybe.
27:20Maybe that one.
27:21Not sure yet.
27:22Now, you know, reflecting on Bufori's journey, what's been the single most...
27:26significant risk you think that you've taken so far that got you to where you are today?
27:31The move from Australia to Malaysia, that was a risk.
27:36Yeah.
27:36That was a big risk.
27:37Especially everything was unknown.
27:39You know, we're a small boutique manufacturer in Australia at the time.
27:43Only been around for five years or so.
27:46Yeah.
27:46And then to pick up and come to Malaysia with an unknown partner.
27:51Wow.
27:52Bold move, you know.
27:53And we're sheltered in Australia.
27:54So we're not an international company by any means.
27:59And my two brothers and I basically just made this decision over a cup of coffee sort of thing.
28:04Whoa.
28:04And, you know, we've got this opportunity.
28:07Shall we just do it or not?
28:09And we did it, you know.
28:10And it was hard.
28:11It was really a tough decision.
28:12And nothing went to plan.
28:14You know, we burnt our fingers really bad.
28:16And everyone did.
28:18You know, it was, the partnership was miserable.
28:21Oh, no.
28:22It failed.
28:23It was horrible.
28:24Right.
28:24But the lessons that we learned from that, you know, were life-changing.
28:28And it made us who we are today.
28:31It shaped us.
28:33So we took, you know, we don't look back at it now.
28:35You know, we don't look at the negative side of it.
28:37And we learned more from that experience than money could have ever taught you.
28:41No university degree could have taught you anything that we learned from that partnership,
28:46you know.
28:46Yeah.
28:46It is what it is.
28:47No hard feelings, you know.
28:49We've moved on.
28:50Right.
28:50And everyone has their lives.
28:52Everyone makes mistakes.
28:53And, you know, it's water under the bridge now.
28:57It's history.
28:57Right.
28:58Because it's all a part of what has become your journey to this point now.
29:01It shaped us to what we are today, you know.
29:03And do we, you know, we had the choice to pack our bags and leave Malaysia and go back to Australia.
29:08But we didn't.
29:09You know, we stayed true to our beliefs.
29:11We came here for a reason.
29:13And that was to deliver on a promise.
29:15And we did.
29:17And, yeah, it makes sense that that move, that initial move was one of the biggest risks that you took.
29:25But while we understand that that business risk was a big one, but I'm sure on a personal level as well,
29:31because the business wasn't the only thing that moved.
29:34You moved.
29:35Yeah, I knew it.
29:36Like personally, yeah.
29:38Yeah, I mean, it was exciting at the time.
29:40But, you know, we're relatively introvert as a family.
29:43So we keep to ourselves.
29:45We're not socialites by any means.
29:47You know, we were just hardworking, a very hardworking conservative family.
29:51Coming to Malaysia was an eye-opener because, you know, you're now in the limelight and people recognize you.
29:57People notice you.
29:58People want to be, they want to know your story.
30:00They want to ask you questions.
30:01They want to bring you on podcasts.
30:02They want to put you on podcasts just like this.
30:05And, you know, we've done plenty of it.
30:07You know, social media is a big thing even in those days, you know, the social scene.
30:11But, and it was a culture shock at first.
30:14Yeah.
30:15And then the family came and the family grew.
30:18And, you know, I got two kids and they're both car enthusiasts.
30:21They love what we do.
30:22Yeah.
30:22They're not here in Malaysia with me.
30:24They're back in Australia.
30:25And since 2014, I've been on my own here.
30:28And I wouldn't change it because, you know, it's just the way it is.
30:33I love what I do.
30:33And it frees me up to do my own thing.
30:36And I love what I'm doing.
30:37I'm still enjoying every moment of every day.
30:39Right.
30:40I don't treat this as a job.
30:42It's, you know, I'm living a dream.
30:44Yeah.
30:44It is a job.
30:45It is definitely, you know, I'm working for it.
30:48It's more than that.
30:49And the most important thing to be in a situation that I'm in right now is to love what you're doing.
30:54And if you can't love it, you know, money alone can't make cars like this.
30:58Money alone cannot operate a business like this.
31:01You've got to love what you do.
31:03You know, it's ups and downs.
31:05You know, you get good days and bad days.
31:07And it's the love that gets you through it.
31:08It's the passion and love that you're for it.
31:10And it's the team, you know, without every single person that's in my company.
31:14Right.
31:15I owe everything to the team that I've got.
31:17And it's that team that keep me here today.
31:19Right.
31:19You know, and we've been offered some of the biggest, best countries in the world that, you know,
31:24founded the automotive industry, have asked us to relocate to their countries.
31:29But we're not interested.
31:30We're here because we want to be.
31:31Yeah.
31:32And we're here because we want, you know, the people keep us here.
31:35And we're here because this is where we want to be, making what we're doing and doing what we're doing.
31:39It's like you're a part of the, you're Malaysian.
31:43That's what you are.
31:44The company is Malaysian.
31:45Oh, yeah.
31:46I'm a proud PR, you know, and I'm the one that puts the flag on every car I make.
31:51So, you know, nobody can ever say that I'm not doing my part for Malaysia.
31:55Yeah.
31:56Yeah, we've sold cars to 40 countries around the world.
32:00We've got the richest people on the planet that own them.
32:02And, yeah, we're very, very proud of our achievements.
32:05And that's really, that's really what makes us tick, you know.
32:08And we're loving every moment of it.
32:10You're not just running a company.
32:12You're kind of like growing a family.
32:14Every car is very, very special to the company.
32:18Every car is very special.
32:19It should be very special to Malaysia.
32:21You know, I think when I'm gone, these cars can be worth a lot more money than they are today.
32:25Nice.
32:25So, yeah, we're building history.
32:28Yeah.
32:28Really, we are.
32:29And now we're so happy that you're here to be, to share that history with us as well.
32:34Now we're going on, we're going, moving on to the rapid fire questions now, which is where we ask you the question and you just give whatever comes to mind.
32:42Like, yeah, short and sweet.
32:44Okay.
32:45Ready for this?
32:45Okay, Jerry, here we go.
32:47Okay.
32:47What's your all-time favorite Bufari model?
32:50That's a very difficult question.
32:51Yeah.
32:52It's like asking someone, what's if he's a favorite child?
32:55Yeah, but there always is one.
32:56There is always one, is there?
32:57Yeah, the Geneva is definitely my favorite car.
33:00All right.
33:00Yeah.
33:01Dream canvas color for a bespoke interior?
33:04Definitely burgundy and beautiful walnut woodwork.
33:07Nice.
33:07Oh, that was an easy one.
33:08Yeah.
33:08That was a quick one.
33:09Okay.
33:09First car that ignited your passion?
33:12That's a tough one.
33:13Mm.
33:13You know, I love, I love the Auburns.
33:16I love the Stutz.
33:16I love the Packard.
33:17It's very difficult to say one.
33:19Right.
33:19If I had to say one, it would probably be, probably the Auburn.
33:23Okay.
33:24Yeah.
33:25Family huddle or solo creative sprint when it comes to work?
33:28I think it's family huddle because you kind of.
33:29It starts with the family huddle.
33:30Okay.
33:31Finish with the sprint.
33:32Okay.
33:33So it's both.
33:33But it starts with the huddle first.
33:35It does, yeah.
33:35To get everyone aligned.
33:36Yeah.
33:37All right.
33:37What's been the toughest component to perfect?
33:40I think I've touched on that earlier.
33:42You know, with all respect to the people I employ, and I know people are not a component,
33:49but people do make up a very big part of what we make.
33:52Right.
33:52These are cars that are made with heart and soul.
33:55And without people, there are no machines that can make a buffuri.
33:58So people is the hardest element or hardest component for us to manage and to produce and
34:04to manage.
34:05And that's why the academy is something that you're looking on.
34:07The academy is very, very important to us.
34:09What's one word that would sum up Buffuri's design ethos?
34:12Okay.
34:13One word is timeless.
34:15Right.
34:16But timeless elegance is probably the right word to use.
34:20Right.
34:20Timeless.
34:21And finally, what ambition keeps you up at night dreaming of Buffuri's future?
34:27What's that?
34:29You know, we've made a lot of cars in this world and put a lot of cars out into the world.
34:33But if there's an opportunity for us to have a Buffuri parked in the most prestigious museums
34:39in the world, parked up alongside the most collectible Rolls Royces or the most desirable
34:45Bentleys or Bugattis and things like that, that would make me very, very proud.
34:50Right.
34:51That doesn't seem like it's too far off, actually.
34:54No, I don't think so.
34:55I mean, it's probably already happening and I just don't know about it.
34:57Right.
34:58I wouldn't be surprised if it has, but, you know, I'd like to see more of that sort of
35:02thing.
35:02That's exciting too.
35:03And timeless.
35:04And timeless.
35:05And final question, which we ask for, we ask all of our guests actually, right?
35:09If you had the opportunity to make one change as Prime Minister of Malaysia for a day, for
35:17a day, what would it be and why?
35:19Your Prime Minister for a day.
35:20Gosh, I'd really focus on implementing a craftsmanship academy, an academy to teach
35:30people craftsmanship.
35:31Don't just do things for the sake of doing them, do them because you want to.
35:35Right.
35:35Education is really, really paramount.
35:38Right.
35:39When you talk about making things by hand, when you depend on people, you need to teach
35:44them fundamentals.
35:45And I think that's what I would do if I had a chance today.
35:48And the world doesn't need more disposable products.
35:51It needs more creators who care deeply about what they build.
35:55Right.
35:56And that, I think, to us is what we would like to see.
36:00If I was Prime Minister, yeah, definitely that's what I would like to do.
36:03Things that are well made and last.
36:06From people who care.
36:07Right.
36:08And I'm proud of what they do.
36:10I'm very proud of what they do.
36:11Right.
36:11My brother used to always say to me, it doesn't matter what you do in life, as long as you
36:15do it with your body, heart and soul.
36:17Right.
36:17You know, and you'll be good at it.
36:19Right.
36:19I'd love to see more of that in Malaysia.
36:21I don't see a lot of it.
36:22Right.
36:22We see it in you, though.
36:23We see it in you.
36:23Yeah, because I mean, and I lead by example, do as I do, not do as I say.
36:28But I don't see a lot of that in Malaysian people, unfortunately, or in Asia, actually,
36:32to be honest with you.
36:33I'd love to see more of it.
36:35Yeah.
36:35I see it in Befuri.
36:36Every person in Befuri feels like me.
36:39But I'd like to see that from newcomers and people that we interview every day.
36:43And the future will show us what happens next.
36:46That's right.
36:46And thank you so much.
36:47And it's in everyone else's hands.
36:49The pleasure.
36:50Literally, actually, especially when it comes to crafts and artisanal things.
36:54It literally is in their hands.
36:56Exactly.
36:57It has been a great pleasure speaking with you today and hearing your thoughts.
37:01Pleasure is mine, Terry.
37:01Thanks so much for the opportunity.
37:03And this has been Jerry Khoury with us today, who, of course, is the founder of Befuri.
37:09And we'll see you in the next episode of Life Confessions here on Shock.
37:14We'll see you in the next episode of Life Confessions here.
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