Chery cars ready to compete with leading Japanese brands

Since the country’s automotive market has been persistently ruled by Japanese car manufacturers, a new industry player is determined to penetrate the Philippine market with new and affordable cars made in China.

Chery Cars, which had its introduction to the Philippine market just late last year, have been making waves as a new alternative brand ought to provide more affordable cars to the vast majority of the populace and in turn lessen the rampant problem in second hand car smuggling in the country.

Recently, the company opened its dealership here in Cebu under a partnership with its Cagayan de Oro distributors.

In a press conference held during its launching, chief operating officer Raymond Tumao from Iseway Motors Phils., Inc, the exclusive distributor of Chery cars in the Philippines said that their company is ought to “change the marketing system of the country” through creating a different “marketing segmentation” that categorize car buyers’ based on their affordability. He said that this new segmentation will range from markets one to eight.

“We don’t want to discriminate and look down on people because there are car buyers that can afford different car prizes depending upon their capacity,” said Tumao.

Targeting to capture 20% market share of the competitive local automotive industry ruled mainly by the Japanese car brands, Chery’s Philippine dealership is intent on intensifying its brand name in the market with series of dealership launches nationwide.

“We want the Filipinos to know that they now have an “alternative choice” to own a car for a lesser and more affordable prize. Chery cars are not cheap cars, these are just priced the way cars should be prized,” stressed Tumao.

Currently, the company has 31 dealerships nationwide and 14 of these locations are already operational.

And proving their optimism on the Cebu market, being the second biggest and most vibrant city in the country today, another dealership in the southern part of the province will be establish later this year to provide after sales service to the residents along the area.

Chery cars according to Tumao are affordable because it was priced with only a little profit in mind. Their prices range from P359, 000 to P891, 000 depending upon the car’s model. —Rhia de Pablo