Hyundai Asia Resources, Inc.: 20 Years Of Committed Nation-Building
Now with two decades of successful operations in the country, Hyundai Asia Resources, Inc. (HARI) celebrates and deepens its foundational roots of good corporate citizenship. Through the years, the official distributor of Hyundai vehicles in the country has successfully engaged its public and private partners in a wide range of nation-building endeavors. “We enter the next decade driven to engage in more partnerships that will help bring our nation back on its feet, guided by the core values that make us who we are today: integrity, innovation, commitment, agility, excellence, and love for the customer,” affirms HARI President and CEO Ma. Fe Perez-Agudo.
Leave no one behind
Since 2006, H.A.R.I. Foundation, Inc. (HFI), HARI’s corporate social responsibility arm, has harnessed the power of the heart of the Filipino to uplift lives, one community at a time.
Early CSR efforts. HARI employees engaged in volunteer builds with Habitat for Humanity (2011)
Together We Can for a Green Tomorrow. (L-R) HARI dealer principals do volunteer tree planting in Boracay (2010); HARI’s Rain-forestation efforts in Tanay with HARIBON Foundation (2010); HARI donates to HARIBON Foundation the HARI EcoVan, a customized H100 that serves as the country’s first eco-library/classroom/exhibit on wheels.
The Hyundai Run for Cause (2011 & 2012) was the auto industry’s first of its kind, promoting in a big way HARI’s advocacies for education, community development, social entrepreneurship, healthcare, environment, road safety, and women and youth empowerment.
Gawad Kalinga and St. Scholastica’s Priory figure among HFI’s strongest and longest-running partners in nation building.
(L-R) The Hyundai Center for Green Innovation at the GK Enchanted Farm in Bulacan, inaugurated in May 2013, serves as the preferred conference venue for social entrepreneurs from all over the world; HARI’s vehicle donations have driven GK’s advocacy to the country’s poorest and remotest areas.
The St. Scholastica Mission Hospital in Pambujan, Northern Samar is HFI and the Benedictine Sisters’ contribution to giving one of the country’s poorest regions access to quality health care.
Public-Private Engagement for a More Competitive Philippines
HARI has figured as the mobility partner of global events that the country has hosted, putting its roster of safe, premium vehicles, the Hyundai Starex, Santa Fe, and H350, at the service of visiting international delegates.
April 2012. Hyundai Drives Asia’s Progress. The official mobility partner of the 45th Asian Development Bank Annual Meeting of Board of Governors.
May 2014. Official mobility partner of the 23rd World Economic Forum (WEF) East Asia and the ASEAN Finance Ministers Investor Seminar (AFMIS)
November 2017. Official mobility partner and participant of ASEAN 50 Summit
HARI’s spearheading the establishment of the Association of Vehicle Importers and Distributors (AVID) in July 2010 cast the spotlight on its advocacy for industry competitiveness and consumer welfare. With its growing network of industry experts from Government and the private sector, AVID has contributed to the crafting of laws and regulations that would help create a more competitive and sustainable business environment for all players in the industry.
Since 2012, the AVID Thought Leadership Forum (TLF) has engaged experts from various industry sectors in meaningful dialogue on issues, policies, and trends that affect Philippine business. (L-R) “Action Towards Viable Innovation for Development (AVID TLF 2013) in partnership with the DOST; “Come Unity, Setting Directions for One ASEAN (AVID TLF 2014); “Globall: To Get There Together. Linking Industries in a Value Chain World” (AVID TLF 2016); “Are We Built or Busted for the Future?” (AVID forum, 2019) in partnership with the Electric Vehicle Association of the Philippines (2019); “The Philippine Automotive Industry Beyond 2020” (AVID forum, 2019) in partnership with the Society of Philippine Motoring Journalists
Hyundai Commercial Vehicles: Partner in Every Way
The awarding of the exclusive distributorship of Hyundai Trucks and Buses on February 15, 2016 paved the way for HARI to meet the country’s growing demand for mass mobility and payload needs, spurred by the government’s renewed focus on infrastructure development and public transport modernization.
Hyundai trucks and buses at the first-ever Hyundai Power Solutions Expo held in November 2019 at the LausGroup Event Centre in San Fernando, Pampanga.
By September 2020, HARI was the first industry player to complete its model lineup for the country’s PUV modernization program: the Hyundai Modern Jeepney Class 1, 2, and 3, all certified by government agencies and the top-of-mind choice of major transport cooperatives.
November 2019. Roll off of the Hyundai Modern Jeepney Class 2 (R)
The Hyundai Modern Jeepney is the top choice of transport cooperatives. Turnover of units in (L-R) GenSan (January 2020), Bacoor, Cavite (December 2020), Pangasinan (February 2021), Laoag, Ilocos Norte (July 2021), and San Jose Del Monte, Bulacan (July 2021).
Only five years into the business, Hyundai CV now ranks an unbeatable first in bus sales, overall, and a challenger fourth in the truck segment.
Hyundai commercial vehicles have also been driving HARI Foundation’s key advocacies, headlined by the Alagang Breastfriend project. Launched in October 2018, HFI and the UP-PGH Cancer Institute joined forces to provide women in underserved communities comprehensive breast cancer information and free screening with the donation of an H350 luxury van customized into a state-of-the-art mobile cancer diagnostic clinic, the first of its kind in the Philippines.
In its two-year run, the Alagang Breastfriend medical missions have served some 200 women in four under-served areas of the country.
Launched in March 2017 to provide clean drinking water to Rawang Elementary School in Tanay, Rizal, the Hyundai Rainwater Harvesting Facility has expanded its reach in 2019 with a Hyundai HD36L Maxculado delivering water to communities around the pilot area.
Biyahe ng Bayani. The Hyundai H350 was put at the service of health workers in Baguio City.
And as the government’s vaccination rollout program gains momentum across the country, HARI is helping fast-track the reopening of the economy with the Hyundai MedTRX Series. Hyundai’s latest lineup of refrigerated vans was locally developed in partnership with established body builders to enable local governments, health sectors, and cold chain solutions providers to hasten the delivery of COVID-19 vaccines throughout the country.
Starting with two offerings from their HD line: the HD36L and HD65, the Hyundai MedTRX Series can deliver vaccines in various quantities.
“Mobility has always been for us more than simply moving people from Points A to B,” concluded Ms. Agudo. “We spent the past 19 years ‘in training,’ so to speak, so that we emerge stronger, better, and more determined to make a difference in what we now call the ‘Now Normal.’ Still the first in innovative services, the only in charging the game, the most in uplifting lives, and the best in mobility solutions. This much, we owe the Filipino.”
Watch out for virtual activities from HARI this September as we look back at the first 20 years and drive forward to the next decades of Hyundai in the Philippines.
