BIZ BUZZ: SYTINS MOVING ON

Chinese automaker Chery had tried to penetrate the Philippine market several times over the past 12 years, with limited success. And some auto industry insiders would say that “limited” is a very kind and generous description of Chery’s previous efforts.

This time, however, the state-owned brand is finally getting serious in its attempt by teaming up with a partner who knows the local industry better.

Recently, it was announced that Chery would be relaunched in the Philippines under the United Asia Auto Group Inc. led by Rommel Sytin. If that name sounds familiar, that’s because Rommel is the younger brother of the late Dominic Sytin, who was shot to death by an assassin in the Subic Freeport Zone a year ago, leaving a growing business empire to two of his three younger siblings.

“We’re keeping the business running and growing it as best we can,” Rommel told Biz Buzz during the recent Chery event where it launched four new vehicles for the booming Philippine automobile market.

“It’s just two of us running the business now,” he said, referring to himself and his younger brother Kenneth.

During his speech at the event, Rommel said the time was ripe for their group to bring in a second automotive brand (following their successful Foton distributorship) because they are “convinced that Chery Auto now has the right mix of design, features, technology and pricing in its product line to make a strong impact on the Philippine market.”

As its opening salvo, the CHERY-UAAGI partnership is offering an all-crossover lineup based on the new design of the Chery Tiggo—no longer a rip-off of the Toyota RAV4 of two generations ago, but a new design and better quality that clearly benefits from Cherry’s joint venture with Jaguar Land Rover.

Speaking of which, the youngest of the Sytin brothers, Dennis, is now a fugitive after being tagged by the suspected gunman as the brains behind the killing of Dominic.

On Monday, Dominic’s widow, Ann, posted on her Facebook account a poster of Dennis with a big wanted sign over his picture... wanted for murder and frustrated murder and offering a reward of P10 million for his capture. Another P4 million reward was offered for Oliver Fuentes a.k.a. Ryan

Rementilla—a former United Auctioneers employee fired by Dominic due to business anomalies—whom police said served as an accessory to the murder.