Ayala deal to distribute Volkswagen cars

**timrev** · October 24th, 2012 12:06 PM

Ayala group bags deal to distribute Volkswagen cars in Philippines

MANILA - Ayala Corp. is set to bring the Volkswagen brand to the Philippines as the local conglomerate and the Wolfsburg-headquartered German carmaker aim to capitalize on the high-growth potential of the automotive industry.

In a disclosure to the Philippine Stock Exchange, AC said Europe’s largest carmaker appointed Ayala Automotive Holdings Corp to distribute Volkswagen passenger vehicles in the country.

“We are very excited to bring Volkswagen’s technology and engineering expertise to the Philippine market," said Fernando Zobel de Ayala, AC president and chief operating officer.

"This partnership will no doubt enhance our current portfolio of auto brands given the dominant position of Volkswagen in the global automotive market. This will allow us to offer a much wider range of passenger vehicles in the local market, which will reinforce further Ayala’s strong presence in the local automotive industry," he said.

The distributorship agreement will expand the Ayala Group's automotive business. The conglomerate held a 46 percent share of Honda sales and 32 percent of Isuzu at end-June.

"Building on the Ayala Group’s excellent reputation and market knowledge, we are excited about offering consumers in the Philippines Volkswagen’s outstanding line-up of vehicles and providing them with an unparalleled level of sales and service experience. As an important part of Volkswagen’s Asean growth strategy, we, jointly with the Ayala Group, plan to rapidly and robustly establish the brand Volkswagen in the Philippines, contributing to our vision to become the world’s number one car manufacturer by 2018," said Weiming Soh, head of Volkswagen AG's commercial operations for Greater China and the Asean region.

The Volkswagen Group was the world’s second largest automobile manufacturer in 2011, with global sales of 8.265 million units accounting for a 12.3 percent share of the passenger car market.

Volkswagen has 99 production plants in 27 countries. At end-2011, the carmaker had more than 500,000 employees worldwide, with vehicles sold in 153 countries.

Besides the auto industry, AC is in the business of real estate development, banking and financial services, telecommunications, water infrastructure development, electronics manufacturing, and business process outsourcing. It recently entered new sectors with investments in power generation and transport infrastructure development.

Ayala group bags deal to distribute Volkswagen cars in Philippines - InterAksyon.com

**uls** · October 24th, 2012 12:30 PM

the prestigious VW

hindi pwede gawin taxi

hehehe

**renzo_d10** · October 24th, 2012 12:36 PM

Originally Posted by uls

the prestigious VW

hindi pwede gawin taxi

hehehe

doubt it kung bebenta 'to. unless mura.

they tried then failed. then they tried again... will they fail for the second time around?

ang alam lang naman ata ng pinoy na volkswagen yung lumang beetle eh. when non-car fanatic pinoys see the new beetle reaction nila... "wow volkswagen yan?"

di nila nga alam kung ano tawag sa kotse na yun. basta volkswagen = bitol agad

sana pricing nila parang Honda, at least, bebenta siguro 'to * that pricing. else, goodluck nalang. hehe.

ganda pa naman ng ibang volks models

**vinj** · October 24th, 2012 12:36 PM

I wonder how will this be. Premium cars distributorship or mass scale selling?

**timrev** · October 24th, 2012 12:42 PM

upon searching meron pala sila mga diesel cars...

ok siguro dalhin nila yun Van models nila...at ok sa pricing bebenta sila...

**uls** · October 24th, 2012 12:43 PM

ipasok nila yung Touareg

Cayenne without the Porsche price tag

and the Tiguan panlaban sa CRV, Sta Fe

**renzo_d10** · October 24th, 2012 12:47 PM

Passat panlaban sa Camry, Accord, Sonata

Jetta panlaban sa Altis, Civic

Volkwagen Golf panlaban sa Jazz

**lowslowbenz** · October 24th, 2012 12:48 PM

Originally Posted by vinj

I wonder how will this be. Premium cars distributorship or mass scale selling?

Volkswagen Group has a model for every niche market (well almost) ... I think it would be both, premium and mass scale selling. The cheaper models would come from plants in China, while the top of the line ones may come from Europe or the Americas.

There are three key areas for this venture to succeed.

1. Model pricing
2. Dealer support (sales/after sales)
3. Spareparts support (adequate local inventory)

**vinj** · October 24th, 2012 01:09 PM

Originally Posted by lowslowbenz

Volkswagen Group has a model for every niche market (well almost) ... I think it would be both, premium and mass scale selling. The cheaper models would come from plants in China, while the top of the line ones may come from Europe or the Americas.

There are three key areas for this venture to succeed.

1. Model pricing
2. Dealer support (sales/after sales)
3. Spareparts support (adequate local inventory)

I had a talk with a local dealer principal before and they were also keen on bringing in VW; in fact, several groups actually wanted to over the past few years. The main hindrance, or so he said, was that they wanted to push it more as a premium brand (low volume but high margins), similar to what most EU marques do here while VW wants a mass market approach. My take, Ayala will do something like a Motor Image (Subaru) perhaps? Wedge it in between the mass market Japs and High-end EUs?

One Golf TDi please... to go.