The French Connection

While it may have taken a little bit longer than expected, the European automotive brands are preparing themselves for yet another French revolution. There was of course one failed attempt back in 2003, but this time, they’ve brought out the big guns—Jose ‘Pepito’ Alvarez and Felix Mabilog, Jr. Now those names may not ring a bell with too many consumers, but it sure as hell sends a shiver down the spine of the industry—well, at least those in the premium luxury segment.

Although Chairman Alvarez will have little to do with the day-to-day operations, his recently appointed head of Eurobrands Distributors, Inc., the official importer and distributor of Peugeot cars in the Philippines, Felix Mabilog, Jr., has his gold-framed spectacles focused squarely on one thing: redemption.

He may not have had anything to do with the first crack at the brand, nor its eventual demise, but he is sure as hell not planning to take Peugeot down the same road. Not on his watch. The mere fact that he pulled himself out of retirement to take up the cudgels under the well-established Alvarez group, which handles both Kia and BMW in the Philippines, just goes to show that this is personal. Very personal.

And as anyone who has ever worked with the man will tell you, Felix Mabilog, Jr., or “FJM” as he is respectfully, if not fearfully, referred to, is about as hard core as any automotive man can get. If he were any harder, he’d rust. He began his automotive career in Volkswagen back when it was the people’s car in the Philippines. He later became a senior executive of Mitsubishi in the 80’s when the box-type Lancer was bigger than Gangnam Style, and then took over Kia Philippines, where in only a few years managed to transform the brand from being the butt of jokes to earning the respect of most folks.

He eventually retired in 2011, shortly after receiving the Pocholo Ramirez lifetime achievement award for his outstanding contribution to the industry, only to get back behind the wheel after successfully securing the official distributorship of the French brand.

But as impressive as that all is, though, and as qualified and motivated as Mabilog may be, I’ll admit that I was also quite skeptical at first. Actually, scratch that: I was dumbfounded as to why the Alvarez group would want to relaunch a brand that, locally at least, only managed to create a ripple effect that barely reached the end of their own dealership’s parking lot. And worse, why my now-former editor from this very section, Dong Magsajo, would jump ship to represent it.

There are many reasons why a brand doesn’t take off in a new market. In Peugeot’s case, perhaps it was the bland and unfocused product line, or the strengthening euro at the time, or the fact that our market was not mature enough—but whatever it was, you just knew that taking another stab would require extra work to be done. A lot of extra work.

But thankfully, their story is not without precedent.

In the last decade alone, CATS Motors took over from the aging Commercial Motors as the official distributor for Mercedes Benz. In just ten years, they were able to rebuild the brand and bring it back to its former glory—and then some—acquiring Chrysler, Dodge and Jeep along the way. It may not have continued the local manufacturing, but it now boasts the biggest and most impressive automotive service center and showroom complex in the Philippines today.

In 2006, Motor Image Pilipinas took over the Subaru brand after it had been neglected and eventually dropped by GM Philippines. But with a little direction and focus, plus the magic of Nicky Mariano and Ariel de Jesus, (both formerly from Toyota), they eventually turned it into the fastest growing brand in the country, ending up with quite a cult following and a total of six dedicated dealerships nationwide.

In 2009, the Covenant Car Company took over Chevrolet after it had been orphaned in the Philippines. And in just three short years, Atty. Albert Arcilla, Lyn Manalansang–Buena and their newly formed and highly motivated team not only resurrected the brand and broke all sales records set by the former regime, but also managed to snag the Car of the Year award for the Cruze as well as the top spot in the JD Power customer service index. Two years in a row.

This only goes to show that, all things being equal, Peugeot stands an above average chance of a successful second coming. With that in mind, while at the Paris Motor Show last week, I decided to drop by their 3,900-square meter stand to try and find out just how exactly this French brand plan on winning local hearts—or more importantly, those precious parking spots outside your homes.

As the second largest automotive group in Europe, it’s a given that they are number one in France, bumper to bumper with national rival Renault, but the brand is still relatively unknown around Southeast Asia, and my concern is how they would migrate all that emotion into motion in a market that associates them more with champagne, perfume, fries and kisses than premium luxury cars. And diesel ones at that.

Five minutes was all it took to see just how serious Peugeot is about their expansion into Asia when their newly appointed French Managing Director for the Peugeot brand, Maxime Picat, went from his native French tongue, to addressing the English press in flawless English and wrapping it up with a summary to the Chinese press in perfect Mandarin.

After spending several years as assistant Managing director, and eventually managing director of DongFe Peugeot Citröen Automobiles (DPCA) in China and growing it by 400 percent, Picat kept stressing how important internationalization was to Peugeot, and Asia in particular, and has made the expansion of the brand his primary focus by remaining “On the offensive in terms of quality, technology, innovation and design.”

Among the 40 production vehicles Peugeot presented in Paris, including their breathtaking super car concept, ONYX, the Philippine market will be formally launching in December with four models: the 508 mid-size sedan, the 5008 7-seater MPV and its 5-seater baby brother, the 3008, as well as their 2-door sports coupe, the RCZ, which will be the only non-diesel vehicle in the line-up.

Although the first batch of the RCZ are reportedly all pre-sold, only time will tell how the Filipino consumer will warm to the rest of these products and the brand in general. There’s a ton of potential, passion and promise for Peugeot in the Philippines, but while Mr. Picat has yet to learn Tagalog, the 208 GTi seems to already speak our language. Just saying.

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