After carrying the Audi brand in the Philippines for ten years, Auto Prominence claims to have been unfairly and summarily brushed off by its German counterpart in what has apparently become a partnership gone sour. Auto Prominence claims to have complied with each and every directive that the Germans set forth in order for Auto Prominence to (continue to) carry the brand. Unfortunately, the German’s don’t see it this way. As far as the Germans are concerned, over the past ten years, Auto Prominence has actually done more damage than help to the image of the Audi brand, at least in the Philippines. They have decided, therefore, to grant the exclusive distributorship contract to another (pardon the pun) prominent car dealership, namely PGA Cars. This has resulted in a bitter exchange between the two entities, with neither willing to budge in deference to the other.
We’ve been covering the action quite extensively here at The STAR as both Auto Prominence and PGA Cars are given equal print space on varying days. Audi AG, for example, has explained why it has chosen to part ways with Auto Prominence and gone on to build a new partnership with PGA Cars. Auto Prominence, meanwhile, has made it clear that it intends to go after the Germans and take them to court — even as Auto Prominence (and this baffles me) continues to carry the brand.
All this is fine and dandy as each is, of course, entitled to his (or her) own opinion on the matter (personally, I think both have sound arguments on differing levels). The problem is, while all this is happening, the value of the Audi brand in this country is slowly beginning to erode. Why do I say this? Allow me to make my argument. When PGA came into the scene early this year, I argued that for Audi this could be a chance to shine. With two competing dealers struggling to bring better value to the customer, we’d ideally have better priced cars with better after-sales packages made available to the customer. Unfortunately, this tug-o-war has evolved into something that is anything but ideal. The crappy thing is that, just like the present sorry political state of our beloved but battered peninsula, there is no end in sight.
With both Audi AG and Auto Prominence standing firm on their respective decisions, you can expect a long-drawn battle that will make the car buyer cringe at the very thought of purchasing an Audi. Why should anyone purchase a car from a dealer which is suing its principal, for example? Looking at it from another perspective, why should a buyer purchase a brand that, if the disgruntled Filipino entity wins out, stands to lose its presence in the country eventually? In the meantime, while both entities are pulling hard in separate directions, the Audi owner is sitting quietly as his car deteriorates in value. As all this is happening also, the new dealership, whose only fault is the desire to do a better job of representing the brand than the previous dealership, is finding it hard to sell otherwise fantastic cars to legitimate buyers.
The whole situation stinks of the Filipino propensity for finding fault instead of solutions — and this time around, we’ve got the Germans doing it with us! Audi AG is pointing at Auto Prominence as the necessary scapegoat in this battle. Auto Prominence, naturally, is pointing the accusing finger right back. So while they’re at it, who’s using their free hand to stroke the consumers and attend to their needs? Let’s not even try to answer that one.
So what could be a viable solution here? If I were running the show at Auto Prominence, I’d do exactly what the company is doing at the moment. I’d take all my marbles, hand them over to the authorities, then wait for my day in court. I would not, however, continue to carry the brand that I intend to spank. I’m no Mr. Spock, but that just doesn’t seem like a logical thing to do — not from the dealer’s perspective and certainly not from the buyer’s perspective. I would rather concentrate on doing well in my other businesses and hope that such incidents don’t occur there too (Auto Prominence still holds the exclusive distributorship rights to the Volkswagen brand).
If I were among the Germans calling the shots at Audi AG, meanwhile, I’d go for a settlement agreement. Obviously, they have to come clean if they intend to continue doing business in this country. And obviously, they also ruffled some feathers in laying the groundwork for that continuing business to thrive. But to actually brush off a business partner with such haste? That’s not the Filipino way of doing business. May konting lambing at amor dito, and it’s a ballgame that foreign entities would do well to learn. I’m not saying they ought to bow down to Auto Prominence, I’m saying they ought to meet them halfway. Besides, the quicker they settle things with Auto Prominence, the quicker they can get down to rebuilding the image that they claim was damaged over the past ten years.
Until such time that they do meet halfway, the brand with the four rings will only continue to suffer. The current owners and future buyers of Audis will be dragged and mired in their little squabble, as well. In the meantime, the Benzes, BMWs and Volvos of the world are looking more and more appealing by the day.
To put it another way, while Audi AG and Auto Prominence are going around in circles, Cats Motors, Inc., BMW Philippines and Viking Cars Philippines are continuing to build their brands and growing their client base. The infighting is killing Audi, and they all better see it.
POST SCRIPT: Here’s a little game. I copy-pasted the last paragraph, placed it right below and changed a few of the nouns — just the nouns. You tell me if what you read still makes sense…
To put it another way, while the administration and the opposition are going around in circles, Thailand, Singapore and Malaysia are continuing to build their economies and growing their GDPs. The infighting is killing the Philippines, and we all better see it.