VW comeback in the Philippines - maybe?

[tidus1203]

VW cannot be a volume seller in this country, it just can't... I doubt they can match the prices of the mainstream Japanese brands... As long as those are imported from Germany its not going to happen...

[anonemus]

^ VW is working on beating Toyota as world's number 1 car manufacturer by 2015. It has plants in India, China and now Malaysia...

[tidus1203]

In the Philippines, a volume seller? Alam ko they are a volume manufacturer they are the #1 vehicle in China which is the #1 car market in the world...

[IdolKoSiKalbo]

hello!

i'm thinking of buying one of the old beetles. mga magkano kaya aabutin kung yung bibilin ko ay
-umaandar at makakaabot ng probinsya (say, batangas or la union o baguio)
-may aircon
-may radio na pwedeng kabitan ng mp3 player
-may speakers

ayun lang po

[aargh]

From what i heard, one thing keeping it from our shores is VW wants volume-based sales while the prospective distributors want to market it as a premium line; meaning lower sales volumes and good margins.

They should not market vw here as a premium line. There's the Audi for that. If vw already has a plant in Malaysia, then they could actually match the prices of the Japanese cars here. Vw is not a premium brand. Just because it's European doesn't mean it's premium. Vw is a mass market brand.

The 10,000 unit target is attainable, only if they match the prices of the mass market cars here.

[Ry_Tower]

VW should see to it that before they aspire for volume sales, dapat maganda na network nila ng service/parts and the price should be competitive. Hindi puwede na premium sila kasi IMO, VW is still known in the Philippines as the "beetle" maker. Meaning value for money din cars nila. When they have built a good reputation like Hyundai, then they can push for higher market share.

[Ry_Tower]

Even if they already have a plant in Malaysia, it does not produce majority of their cars, Jetta and Passat pa lang eh. It means if they want a volume sales, they need to import other cars form Europe and that would make it expensive.

Parang mataas na agad goal nila hindi pa nga sila nag-uumpisa.

[anonemus]

http://www.bworldonline.com/content....20VW?&id=26835

Wither VW?




With GM still rising from the ashes and Toyota stumped by North American recalls and lawsuits, Volkswagen or VW has every reason to aim for number one. The chairman, Dr. F. Piech, doesn’t have to be an ambitious genius to strategize that. Its wide product range, large stable of brands and quality offerings continue to lead sales even after the EU dropped its recession busting clunker replacement sales subsidy.

In Europe, VW is number one in almost all of the 27 countries of the EU. Not even Hitler’s Wehrmacht achieved that in WWII. VW is on the comeback trail in North America, with a new Chattanooga factory and a bigger Puebla factory in Mexico. Instead of SUVs and pickup trucks, in surprise rebound at the North American International Auto show, VW will produce an Americanized Passat to compete with the Malibus, Fusions, Camrys and Accords. VW continues to dominate in China against dozens of powerful rivals. It continues to lead in the big Latin American car making markets. And VW, like Auto Union in the ’30s, is always on the lookout for growth through the acquisition of more brands. Suzuki, Scania and MAN are already in its orbit and it is a patient suitor to FIAT’s Alfa Romeo.

But over here VWs are barely noticeable other than as 1.) trinkets from the past, lovingly cared for by several VW Beetle Clubs, 2.) the Port Irene imports of Japanese market Mexican-made VW New Beetles, 3.)

a few Caravelle and old Passat units, from the Autostadt boutique VW dealership of Peter and Paul Rodriguez, and 4.) mention in the BoI history of one DMG, the country’s largest car assembler and makers of the all-Filipino DMG Sakbayan, based on the Beetle. Perhaps VW’s absence here is understandable as there may still be an outstanding warrant of arrest for Volkswagen’s top man, Herr Martin Winterkorn, collateral damage due to a court struggle for the Audi dealership some years ago. Also, German allergy to doing business in the Philippines shouldn’t surprise given the NAIA-3 flap.

Volkswagen is not exactly as popular as Toyota or even Hyundai in other parts of the world. VW is not even as common as Mercedes in Thailand or Indonesia. Despite several years of on and off negotiations with Malaysia’s homegrown Proton, VW is not half as visible as VW’s own Skoda, which was in the Malaysian market before VW. Even in India, VW is not only a Johannes-come-lately: its presence looks token compared to Ford, Hyundai and Mercedes. In the Middle East, Benzes outnumber VWs in many cities. Apart from the locally made Kombis and Golfs in South Africa, Volkswagens are far less common than even old clunkers from long departed French brands. So, excluding the zero growth EU market, how can VW even hope to becoming number one when it doesn’t even have the convincing global presence of GM, Toyota and even Ford?

To be fair, other European volume makers are not exactly forces to be reckoned in growth markets. Francophone Africa is swarming with Asian cars as French cars are looked fondly as antiquities. Latin America does have a strong European presence, but not as domineering overall as the US and Asian brands. In Asia, we’ve seen pioneering attempts but sustainability all but withered when the Asian competition arrived. To Asian hearts and minds, the cachet of volume European brands is just not in the same league as the prestige marques such as Volvo, SAAB, Mercedes, Audi, BMW and Ferrari. Also, if many of the same revered European brands did not have the perseverance to soldier in the US market, why should they bother with Asia? A retreat to the comfort of Fortress Europe was always the easy way out.

Excepting the usual defeatist excuses about the Philippines being a small market, like it or not we are still recognized as being the oldest car culture in Asia. With 17 brands and counting, this makes the Philippine much more of a free market than any other ASEAN country.

The Philippines is a good bellwether to learn sophisticated marketing skills for a discerning rich man’s market. Philippine society ably translates Asian expectations in plain car language. And for over the past year and half, the speculation is on VW’s return.

If VW just needs a presence the rational choice would an existing distributor. The target would be the premium market of discerning enthusiasts that is currently well served by MINI, Subaru, Jaguar-Land Rover, BMW, Volvo, Maserati and Mercedes-Benz. PGA has a long history with Volkswagen as distributors for Porsche and Audi. But PGA will have to protect its Audi franchise as there is some product overlap.

Thus marketing the Phaeton, Tiguan, Passat and the Tuareg are out of the question. The Polo and Jetta, bread and butter cars in the EU, will not have the cachet of an Audi A1 or MINI here. The cute Mexican made New Beetle won’t cut it despite the many sentimentalists out there. It is as dear as a VW Golf, sans the Golf’s performance abilities.

A hypothetical PGA VW can sell the Golf GTI -- a riposte to Subarus, EVOs and MINIs -- and the VW Caravelle/Multivan. In Europe, the Caravelle/Multivan is more respected than the Mercedes Viano as the latter is a product of the Mercedes truck division. The Caravelle would compete with the Chrysler Town and Country and the Toyota Alphard.

If VW’s Asian lieutenants want to please the grandiose vision of Dr. Piech, VW has to ally itself with a conglomerate. The speculated favored one has an international reputation for banking and real estate.

Its successful ventures into telcos and utilities was achieved by hiring outside of its rather large cadre of lieutenants and troopers. It, along with another banking conglomerate, are minority partners in the distribution and manufacture of two of the top five local motor vehicle brands. Both chose to sew up the dealer network between themselves, leaving the foreign partners the core competence of operations and manufacture. The conglomerate’s car-making firms have a wellspring of recently retired executives known to have thought out of the box when the spurt in carmaking began in the early ’90s. For so long as they are not bound by non-compete clauses, they should be tapped if VW is to be a major player.

One factor VW should consider is how this pans to its constituency in China. It is acknowledged that VW’s biggest market and biggest money earner is China, not Germany. As the quality of Chinese-made cars ramp up and with manufacturing capacity in excess of five million units/year, FAW and SAIC, VW’s partners in China, will wisely use its VW connections and influence to find markets for their production, especially when PHL signs a bilateral trade agreement with China. If VW finally decides to weather the vagaries of the Philippine market, they should choose a partner committed for the long haul.

[umi001]

I know this old news but just wanted to quote straight from the horse's mouth. https://www.volkswagen-media-service...tlichkeit.html

It's part of their worldwide "Strategy 2018" which aims to surpass Toyota as the #1 car maker worldwide. I think its good for VW AG to acknowledge the ASEAN region's emerging importance in the world market. In fact, accdg to reports from justauto.com; (http://www.just-auto.com/news/asean-sales-up-36-in-january-september_id106655.aspx) the region's combined car sales rose to 36% in Jan-Sept 2010. Thailand topped the list, while the Philippines ranked #4. Even though MAS and THA will be center of activity initially, an established presence in both countries allows them to take advantage of the zero &/ lower tariffs when importing to ASEAN countries which means expect more competitive prices vs Japanese, American and other European mainstream brands.

Wow, ang liit lang pala ng market natin compared to Thailand, Indonesia and Malaysia...

Unit Sales

Thailand: 556,359
Indonesia: 556,196
Malaysia: 453,249
Philippines: 129,901

Less than 30% of Malaysia, and under 25% of Thailand.

[cripple_rooster]

If it's to come from an ASEAN factory or via (wink.wink.) Singapore, they can keep the price down. It'll all depend.

VW's base models compete on the same price point as Honda and Toyota in the US through heavy decontenting. (they get the agricultural Brazilian made 2.5 instead of the more advanced direct injection engines). When they were here before, the price range was similar to Volvo... (even with some really uncompetitive engines... the 115 hp 2.0 (8 valve! How high tech!) in the New Beetle comes to mind...) I don't expect that to change much.

I believe the Volkswagen cars for the Philippines would come from China instead of Brazil like in the 70s and 80s with the Brasília and the Passat "Iraqi" (as we call the Passat LSE in Brazil since it was originally intended to be exported to Iraq and has some different features such as 4 tow hooks instead of 2, MD-270 engine bolted to a 4-speed transmission instead of EA-827/5-speed transmission, a better interior trim, stronger engine cooling system and aircon as a standard feature). But maybe the current Voyage would be a good option to compete against the Honda City, since its cost is lower than the Polo.