11 March 2013
All-new Ranger is Ford PH's best-selling model; Reports 108% sales jump in February 2013
Who would have thought that a 10 month old, P1-million, 2wd pick-up truck would eventually become Ford Philippines' best-selling model? You read that right. In February 2013's sales report, the blue oval brand managed to sell 251 all-new Rangers - beating sales figures of the Everest, Explorer, Focus, and Mustang. This helped Ford record a 108% year-over-year sales jump to 865 units. And this coming April, Ford will further expand the all-new Ranger line-up with the introduction of the Ranger Wildtrak at the Manila International Auto Show (MIAS) which should help boost the numbers even higher.
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Industry Update
Asian Carmakers Corporation (ACC), the official importer and distributor of BMW in the Philippines has just inked a deal with the Armed Forces and Police Mutual Benefit Association, Inc. (AFPMBAI) for the long term lease of an AFPMBAI property located in Bonifacio Global City, Taguig.
The deal is said to be worth over P1-billion and will become the future site of BMW's Flagship dealership - envisioned to be the largest and most modern showroom in the country. Both parties, however, didn't say how long the “long term lease” really is or how big the flagship dealership will be.
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Industry Update
As the saying goes, “when the boss is away, work becomes a holiday.” On the contrary, the people behind Volvo Philippines couldn't be happier when a group of top execs from parent company Volvo Cars Asia Pacific (VCAP) visited to country to show their continued support.
VCAP President, Mr. Carl Goran Larsson, VCAP Chief Finance Officer Roslin Ooi, and VCAP Regional Business Manager Ai Phing Teh paid Volvo Philippines a quick visit to see how things are shaping up so far.
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Industry Update
22 February 2013
Highs and lows for HARI in January 2013
Hyundai Asia Resources Inc. (HARI), the official distributor of Hyundai vehicles in the country, reported a 32% sales growth for the first month of 2013 by selling 1,992 vehicles as opposed to the 1,505 units in December 2012. While that sounds quite remarkable, what they're not telling you is that the month's performance is actually 7.5% lower than what they achieved back in 2011, or 161 cars less to be exact.
Thankfully though, sales of Hyundai's Passenger Car (PC) models performed exceptionally well in January 2013, posting a 65% increase from December with 1,236 units sold. They sold a total of 967 subcompacts (EON, i10, Accent), 243 compacts (Elantra), 9 midsize sedans (Sonata), and 17 sports cars (Genesis Coupe) last month.
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Industry Update
21 February 2013
Mitsubishi celebrates 50 years of building world-class cars in the Philippines (w/ video)
Words by Christopher Kho
Only some of you may be old enough to remember that Mitsubishi's rich history in the Philippines dates as far back as 1963. What used to be known as Chrysler Philippines Corporation locally assembled models such as the Dodge Colt, Minica F4, Lancer, Cimarron, and Mitsubishi trucks. After 15 years of operation, the name was changed to Canlubang Automotive Resources (CARCO) in October 1978. Then in 1987, Mitsubishi Motors Corp. (MMC) and Nisho Iwai Corp. (now known as Sojitz Corp.) acquired CARCO, and the company's name was changed to Philippine Automotive Manufacturing Corp. (PAMCOR). But just a few years later, MMC decided to become the major shareholder of PAMCOR, and thus Mitsubishi Motors Philippines Corporation (MMPC) was born on August 1996.
This year, MMPC is celebrating 50 years of building world-class cars, and trucks, in the Philippines. This makes it the oldest automotive company in the country. That’s not all they’re celebrating, though; the Asian Transmission Corp. (ATC) - MMPC's sister company - is also celebrating its 40th Anniversary this year.
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Industry Update
20 February 2013
AVID gets a steady start in 2013
In January 2013, the cumulative sales from members of the Association of Vehicle Importers and Distributors Inc. (AVID) reached 2,625 units. Not bad, but not that great either. That's because it's only 1 car less than the group was able to sell in the same month last year. Still, AVID's report show that January's sales figures is a 23.4% growth from December 2012 thanks to the 43% expansion in the Passenger Car (PC) segment.
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Industry Update
After a Christmas shopping spree, it's quite normal to see sales drop significantly on the first month of the new year. But that's not the case for Ford Philippines. Their January 2013 sales report show that they sold 820 units which is a staggering 123% increase over January 2012's figures. Although it didn't quite match December 2012's sales of 1,298 units, it still is a damn good way to start the year.
The exceptional monthly performance was driven by some of Ford's latest models. They found 95 new proud owners for the all-new Focus, making January the strongest single sales month for the nameplate in almost three years. The all-new Ranger also made its mark with 178 units sold last month, but we're pretty sure that number would go a lot higher when the Wildtrak version is launched at the 2013 Manila International Auto Show (MIAS) in April. Meanwhile, 18 new ponies were sold in January, bringing up the tally to 170 Mustangs sold in the Philippines.
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Industry Update
12 February 2013
Volvo North EDSA now open to serve YOU
Volvo Philippines is bringing the Scandinavian brand a lot closer to their would-be customers in northern Metro Manila. Now open to serve YOU is their newly-opened dealership, Volvo North EDSA, located at Two Cyberpod ETON Centris, EDSA corner Quezon Avenue, Quezon City.
From what we've seen, Volvo North EDSA's showroom floor already has two Volvos on display, but can possibly fit as much as four Volvos at a time. It, however, does not offer servicing and you'll have to bring your vehicle to Volvo Makati for its preventive maintenance service.
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Industry Update
