After penetrating the Philippine market, Chery Automobile is now bent on intensifying its infrastructure support investments in the country.
This October, Chery is targeting to open its Asia Pacific Training Center in Manila, announced Gary Tung, Chery Automobile Co., Ltd. Sales Manager for Asia-Pacific and South Africa Region in an interview.
Tung said that it has been their company's direction to become a top brand in the country's automotive industry that has since been dominated by Japanese manufacturers.
"We are very confident in the Philippine market but we know that it will take us some years to get a good share of the market but we are pushing very hard with the help of our efficient partners," he stressed.
The Asia Pacific Training Center is only one of the many infrastructure support that Chery will be providing its Philippine partner and its growing market-base here, said service and parts manager Jonas Silva of Iseway Motors Philippines, Inc., the exclusive distributor of Chery Automobile in the country.
He explained that the center is aimed to beef up their sales support as it will provide training to their dealership network and sub-dealers after sales support team from the country and other Asia Pacific regions.
The center's first training session is slated next month and it will provide training kits patterned to Chery International's training curriculum, Silva added.
"Not only the Philippines will make use of the center but also the Asia-Pacific market. This will continually improve the skills of our after sales people as it will provide technical trainings, sales marketing and the whole after sales package," he explained.
Other than the center, Tung and Silva also announced Chery's future plan of putting up an assembly plant of semi knocked down (SKD) and completely knocked down (CKD) units in the Philippines.
If this plan pushes through accordingly, Chery units are expected to become more affordable than it already is hence making the opportunity to own cars possible for a huge portion of the Filipino populace, said Silva.
And since Chery is aiming to expand the country's automotive market as they target the specific market segments that is not currently served by existing car brands in the market, works on putting up a leasing and financing arm is also being considered.
Silva said that these major investments shows the confidence of Chery in the Philippine market and their deep thrust in building a stronger market presence in the area.
“As their dealer, we feel the great support that Chery has been giving us since we started and these investments that will be undertaken here in the Philippines only proves that Chery is here to stay. This move also aims to counter the negative impression of the public on China-made products because we aim to provide the best value and quality to our clients,” stressed Silva.
“Chery which is already an international brand is eyeing a bright future for the Philippine market because otherwise the company will not be spending their time, effort and money to establish presence here,” he added further.
Chery Automobile Co., Ltd. was founded in 1997 by five of Anhui Province local state- owned investment companies and it is owned by the local government of Wuhu in China.