Too many PRs, where are the cars?

OMODA (and Jaecoo) are one of the Chinese car brands that made a splash last year, being the first to announce a major entry into the Philippine market right after the pandemic emergency status was lifted.

A series of China plant trips were made involving a big number of journalists just to showcase the Omoda 5 and Jaecoo 7 models that the company behind them said were planned to be introduced in the Philippines.

More than 10 months have passed and we have not seen any Omoda or Jaecoo cars in Manila, or any part of the Philippines for that matter. But we have been receiving weekly press releases about the company’s plans.

The excuse of the company behind Omoda and Jaecaeoo is that the process of opening a business in the Philippines is quite tedious, and that they are having issues with government agencies like the Bureau of Internal Revenue, and Department of Trade and Industry paperwork and documentation.

Now, I can believe that, simply because red tape in the Philippine bureaucracy is one of the most harrowing and difficult to maneuver in the world despite efforts of the administration past and present to simplify government transactions.

Our laws on “ease of doing business” are in place but the ground level processes seem to be not affected by national policies.

But there is another issue I have heard from reliable sources in the industry.

Apparently, what the Omoda and Jaecoo team wants is for Filipino businessmen to gamble on their business with them not putting in a centavo.

The standard practice of car companies coming into the Philippine market is to put up their own corporate owned dealership/showroom before other dealers/partners are invited to join them and invest.

This is to show local businessmen and investors that the incoming foreign company is willing to stake as much of their money and assets in the business venture as the partners they are wooing.

But apparently, the company behind Omoda and Jaecoo are not in this mindset. Hence, the difficulty in setting a proper business network that an auto brand needs in the country to sell their cars. I mean, why would I buy a car when I do not know where to get my after-sales service since there are no dealers/service centers?

To be fair, I personally tested the Omoda 5 and the Jeecoo 7 and they are excellent cars. The design is beautiful, the technology is top rate (you can even talk to the car), and the engineering looks almost perfect.

They are even offering a 7-year or 200,000 kilometer warranty, probably one of the highest in the country today, and an 8-year 200,000 kilometer battery warranty for their electric vehicles. That is not a bad deal.

They even contracted a spare parts company that will ensure sufficient supply of parts needed to keep their cars running.

The thing is, with all the weekly press releases (about 52 already) issued for a year now, there are still no cars to show, no showroom to visit, and no service center to depend on.

And now it is becoming a joke in the local car industry that the company has many pronouncements but has no cars to sell. It’s kind of a painful joke to hear if you are from the company behind Omoda and Jaecoo.

By the way, Omoda and Jaecoo are models under the Chery brand in China. That is the other question. Why is Chery doing so well in the country but their spin off company is having such a hard time?