Fellow Motorist: Tzong Lee, co-founder & co-CEO, TRAPO

Tzong Lee, 37, has been sharing TRAPO chief executive duties with his younger brother Zare for 10 years since 2016. We chat with the Malaysian gentleman at the TRAPO Singapore store in Ubi.

How long have you been a motorist?

Since I was 17, for 20 years already. I used to live in Australia, where I drove for eight years. I moved to Melbourne when I was 18, stayed there for nine years, and did my IT degree and MBA there. 

I got my driving licence in Malaysia, passed the test on my first attempt [laughs].

What do you like about motoring in Malaysia and Australia?

Freedom would be the best word to describe motoring in Malaysia. This morning I was driving here, the city driving experience is similar between Melbourne and Singapore. The cars, the driving ethics, and the driving is more calm, which reminds me a lot about driving in Melbourne. 

What do you dislike about motoring in Malaysia? 

Some of the roads in Malaysia are not properly done, and some places got potholes. I’ve been driving here in Singapore for the past three days, it’s quite straightforward. Most of the places I go, I could find carpark within five minutes - very different from Malaysia, where the amount of cars and the traffic jams are crazy.

Remember the first car you bought? 

Under my name, probably the 2008 Honda Civic sedan auto I bought in Australia. It is my most memorable car. When I got it in my second year there, it was a complete lifestyle change and I saved a lot of time. Australia is very beautiful outside of the city, with a lot of beautiful sceneries. I really took advantage of that with my Aussie Civic. 

During those days, it was magical. I could go anywhere I wanted, I would drive my friends around. Back then, I was playing a lot of basketball. The car allowed me to create a lot of memories and bonds. 

Most importantly, my parents didn’t have to worry about me anymore. I was very independent thanks to having a car of my own. It was like a milestone. Suddenly, wah, you can do anything you want, without too many responsibilities. These days, it’s different, lah. Tzong's first car was a 2008 Honda Civic in Melbourne, Australia.

What is your favourite car today?

The ones I have, which serve different purposes. 

I have a Zeekr 009 and an Audi RS e-tron, I switched to EVs because I want to fully experience them. One German, one Chinese, so I can compare. Changes in car ownership habits could affect people’s car buying behaviour. 

Because I’m in the automotive business with TRAPO, we’re always looking for problems to solve in daily practical driving and seeing the potential products we could explore. 

I also have a Porsche 911 (992 series). That one is just a dream of every man, lah. It’s fun, but I cannot drive it very long on the road, because my EVs are very comfortable. I really enjoy using the Zeekr, actually. My day-to-day car, 80 percent of the time, is definitely the Zeekr 009 - to fetch my kids and family. If I drive myself, I would take the Audi RS e-tron. Tzong describes his Porsche 911 as "just a dream of every man, lah".

What TRAPO products do you use in your own cars?

Everything. Outside, from the PPF tint to the wipers. Inside, would be the mats, dashcam, phone holders, cables, our car sense products - literally everything that helps me from point A to point B.

What is the most enjoyable aspect of your role in TRAPO?

Coming up with a product that matters. When we get good feedback from our customers, when people come to me and say this product is very good, this product saved me - such moments made me realise that the work I do really matters. 

What is the most challenging aspect of your role in TRAPO?

Probably the education stage. Many products are beyond what a normal product would serve - it would come with certain technologies that sometimes are not so straightforward, which would require us to educate customers. Safety, for instance, which some people don’t take seriously until it happens. Prevention is better than cure. 

We use a term called “cost of ownership”, which is the total cost of owning a car. In Malaysia, people own a car for seven to 10 years, how much you will spend during that time on your car’s maintenance and accessories, our TRAPO products will lower the long-term cost. 

You buy wipers every six months and then you change to new ones. Ours are good and you only need to change the blades, which will save cost. Our PPF (paint protection film) maintains your car’s paintwork like it’s day one. Our dashcam is easier to explain - if you get into a traffic accident, the first thing you need is footage. 

And, of course, car mats, our best-seller.

TRAPO car mats underpin the decade-long success of the company.

Can share an interesting aspect of TRAPO that most customers do not know about?

What I get to find out in TRAPO. Because we launch products on a yearly basis, people know us as the car mat company to begin with, then we slowly expanded to other products. We have old car-mat customers who are very surprised that, wah, TRAPO has all these things already.

Another thing that people probably don’t know - we put a lot of effort into every product we make, including R&D. We believe that how we succeeded in car mats is customers’ benchmark for our other, non-mat products. 

Does TRAPO use AI for its business, products and services?

We already adopted AI a few years ago, because it’s just part of digitisation. Our goal is cost saving and work efficiency, so we can make everything more affordable to our customers. 

Internally, we use AI in manufacturing, ordering, data prediction, and streamlining of processes. Integrating AI was a natural thing. We’ve been collecting data and growing our database. The insights we could get from it are a lot faster today (with AI).  

Makes me feel that everything I studied was… [laughs]. I spent two years to learn coding, today you ask the machine to do coding in a few minutes!

With the 10th anniversary of TRAPO in 2026, how would you look back on the company’s journey and what do you look forward to?

Our 10th-year tagline in 2026 is “Happiness In Motion”. Everything we do is to create happiness, save time, save energy - that kind of thing. 

A lot of proud moments, but number one would be, starting from a small town in Melaka, we managed to create a brand selling in a few countries and learn a lot about localisation in Southeast Asia.

In those 10 years, we spent, we learnt, we failed, we succeeded. We collected all these learnings and we’re ready to do the next lap faster, wiser and more purpose-fuelled.  

Our 3S - safer, smart, sustainable - will continue to be at the core of TRAPO “Happiness In Motion”. Because we’re doing it one more time, everything we do has impact. Our customers will really feel our efforts. Most importantly, from point A to point B with TRAPO, “no problem” is the best. The Lee brothers Zare and Tzong who are in charge of TRAPO.

Read More: Fellow Motorist: Jeffrey Goh, co-founder & group chief executive officer, AXS

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