Ayala Automotive widens dealership network

MANILA, Philippines - Ayala Automotive Holdings Corp., the car distribution unit of Ayala Corp., is accelerating  the expansion of its dealership network across the country next year as it seeks to boost revenue contribution to the Philippines’ oldest conglomerate.

In an interview, Ayala Automotive chairman and president John Philip Orbeta told The STAR the company is lining up several new dealerships across the Honda, Isuzu and Volkswagen brands for next year.

“We’re opening a new one for Honda. We’re also finalizing plans for another one or two for Isuzu, and then for Volkswagen we’re also starting our networking for next year. We’re looking at two more,” Orbeta said.

Orbeta said the planned expansion is expected to increase its current five percent share in the local market, as well as improve revenue contribution to the entire Ayala Group.

“We’re still a small group compared to the bigger units, but we have ambitious plans to be a bigger part of the Ayala portfolio,” he said.

Likewise, Orbeta said putting up more dealerships would help the company take further advantage of the country’s robust vehicle sales.

“The industry is still doing well. Honda and Isuzu, they’re doing well in terms of volume growth same with Volkswagen. We’ve introduced a number of models and we will introduce new models in the coming months,” Orbeta said.

A joint report released this month by the Chamber of Automotive Manufacturers of the Philippines and Truck Manufacturers Association  showed the volume of vehicles sold in the first eight months of year zoomed 20.4 percent to 179,215 units from 148,803 units in the January to August period last year.

Vehicle sales for August alone grew 21 percent compared to the 19,116 units sold during the same month last year.

“We’re still positive the industry will continue to grow on the basis of our strong economy, our growing middle class and also our continued expansion of both BPO and the foreign remittances. And of course, there’s a lot of problems on the traffic, but then a lot of people are also having a hard  time on public transport. So with cars being very affordable and financing very aggressive, there is actually more people who never had cars before who are considering getting their first cars,” Orbeta said.