Volkswagen PHL banks on new model to drive sales

THE newly launched sport utility vehicle (SUV) T-cross is expected to drive the sales of Volkswagen Philippines as the car company seeks to revive the brand in the country.

Automobile Central Enterprise Inc. (ACEI)—THE local distributor of the German brand Volkswagen—introduced on Wednesday the 5-seater T-cross, which falls under the company’s portfolio of subcompact SUV.

Volkswagen Philippines President Felipe Estrella III said in an online briefing that T-cross is the company’s entry to the “emerging” subcompact SUV segment in the country. He said that this segment is expected to remain relevant and to continue growing.

“As a consequence of that, the Tcross will also result to be a volume contributor to the overall Volkswagen Philippines sales,” he said.

Estrella said the new model is the vehicle “we hope will be ushering in the revival for the Volkswagen brand in the Philippines.”

Volkswagen is also looking forward to bringing more SUVS in the local market.

Estrella said the introductory price for S variant is P1.068 million while the SE variant costs P1.168 million—both reflecting a discount of P30,000. Interested buyers may now reserve a unit across the company’s dealerships.

“Our customers will be asked to make a refundable deposit, in addition to the price we showed earlier, and of course depending on how the safeguard duty eventually pans out,” he said.

In January, the Department of Trade and Industry imposed provisional safeguard duties in the form of a cash bond amounting to P70,000 per unit for imported passenger cars and P110,000 per unit for imported light commercial vehicles.

Both variants of the T-cross come with a 1.5-liter engine and has 3-year or 100,000-kilometer (km) warranty coverage, whichever comes first. Spare parts warranty covers a 2-year period.

“I don’t think there is a model available in that segment that has a cachet of a Volkswagen vehicle. And therefore, we do expect to be relevant in that segment,” Estrella added.

ACEI saw its sales fall by 48.8 percent to 44 units in the first quarter from 86 units a year ago, according to the report by Chamber of Automotive Manufacturers of the Philippines Inc. and Truck Manufacturers Association.

Last year, it sold 177 units, which is 67.8 percent lower than 550 units in 2019.