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By APD writer Melo M. Acuña
Chinese car manufacturer Geely reached the Philippines, their first foreign market, where they offer high-tech, carefully crafted yet reasonably-priced sports utility vehicles.
Geely’s Deputy General Manager Jenny Jin, in an exclusive interview said the Philippine market is active and has a lot of potential.
“The (Philippine) government’s decision to reduce tariff on CBUs (completely built units) from 30 to 5% made China-made cars with 1500 cc displacement and below more competitive,” Jin said. She added while the world market is beset with uncertainties and economic issues, the Philippine economy is stable and healthy.
Geely is a leading Chinese car brand which entered the auto industry in 1997 and through its Geely Auto Group embarked with brand acquisitions such as Volvo and Proton which they bought in 2017.
Jin added Geely now owns 51% of British makers of sports and racing cars. It has also acquired Massachusetts-based Terrafugia, an American company developing flying cars.
She explained Geely has ranked either No. 4 or 5 in the Chinese market as Volkswagen and General Motors have two joint ventures each as there have been occasions they overtook one of GM’s brands.
Asked of their target market in the Philippines, she said they look forward to satisfying the requirements of Filipino millennials who remain tech-savvy, design-focused, always in search of something new and reasonably priced. A great number of millennials are gainfully employed in one of the country’s top dollar earner, the Business Process Outsourcing industry.
Their latest model, Coolray, is classified a small Sports Utility Vehicle (SUV). SUVs are in demand in the Philippines.
Jin said her company provides all the support to Sojitz G Auto Philippines Corporation in their first car sales venture in the Philippines and explained they will continuously launch new car models every six months. She added they have enough spare parts for their customers.
“We will soon have car dealers in major key cities by next year,” the top-ranking Geely official said. Asked of other foreign markets they would introduce their cars, Jin said they will launch their new Proton model in Malaysia very soon. Geely would remain for the left-hand car drivers while Proton will serve the right-hand drive market.
(ASIA PACIFIC DAILY)