Automobile Central Enterprise, Inc. (ACEI), a wholly owned subsidiary of AC Industrials, and Volkswagen AG have formally agreed to conclude their partnership for the distribution of Volkswagen vehicles in the Philippines. This marks the third brand dropped by Ayala in the span of a year following KTM/Husqvarna and Maxus.
“Over the past years, we’ve been proud to have brought the heritage and innovation of Volkswagen to the Filipino market,” said Dana Uson, Head of Strategy of ACMobility. “As we continue our transformation towards electric and sustainable mobility solutions, we recognize this as a natural point of evolution for both companies. While our paths are now taking different directions, we part ways with mutual respect, deep appreciation, and with optimism as both organizations pursue new opportunities.”
ACEI has served as the official distributor of Volkswagen vehicles in the Philippines since 2013. Through the years, Volkswagen offered a diverse range of models that catered to Filipino families and enthusiasts alike, establishing a strong presence with dealerships across key regions in the country.
As part of the transition, Volkswagen’s selling activities in the Philippines will officially end, and the brand’s final dealership, Volkswagen BGC, will cease operations by the end of September.
While the distribution chapter comes to a close, Volkswagen remains fully committed to supporting existing customers in the Philippines. Vehicle servicing, maintenance, and warranty support will continue to be available through the Alabang Service Center, Pampanga Service Center, and other authorized service touchpoints.
Volkswagen AG expressed its gratitude to ACEI for their stewardship and contributions over the years. Vassil Stavrev, Director, Sales Region India and ASEAN at Volkswagen AG, said, “We value the strong relationship built with ACEI and the loyalty of our Filipino customers. As we move forward, our priority remains to provide uninterrupted service and support, ensuring Volkswagen owners continue to enjoy peace of mind. We are excited about the opportunities ahead and our ongoing commitment to innovation and sustainable mobility in the Philippines."
Customers may book service appointments via this email: volkswagen.service [at] acmobility.ph. For Pampanga customers, please contact +63 918 8542379 or email hbsicat [at] lausgroup.com.ph. For further inquiries and assistance, customers may contact these hotline numbers: +63 966 3797673 or +63 917 5017677 or, through email at customerrelations [at] acmobility.ph.
The writing was on the wall for a very long time already
ReplyDeleteAgree. Matagal na nilang pinapatay yung brand, ngayon lang nila finormalize.
DeleteFrom the time Ayala decided to bring over the Chinese VWs, it was already game over.
DeleteIt actually extended the life of Volkswagen Philippines more as sales of Volkswagen Santana and T-Cross kept the brand alive longer.
DeleteVolkswagen Polo hatchback and sedans made in India are outdated and getting more expensive that's why Volkswagen Philippines dropped it same goes for the made in Europe vehicles.
TRAIN Law,inflation and exchange rates also caused the reason why Volkswagen refused to sell made in European countries and Mexico vehicles in the Philippine market anymorel.
I feel like, is it highly possible that VW's already on a lookout for a new partner? Kasi sayang sobra :/ And bring back global models, better marketing.....
ReplyDeleteIt's possible that VW is looking for a new partner. Unfortunately for whoever will take over, they'll have a lot of baggage to handle, specifically, the Chinese models that Ayala brought in. They'd be starting from a negative, not from zero.
DeleteHard to find a new distributor partner in the Philippine now especially prices of Volkswagen vehicles made in Mexico and European countries are gonna be at BMW,Lexus and Mercedes Benz like prices.
DeleteWhoever VW choose as new partners, VW can have better pricing siguro. Those China models should be at mass market pricing while those global models can be sold as mid luxury prices. Key to note, those European volume car marques may struggle selling in PH.
DeleteVW ph can now start over again
ReplyDeleteVolkswagen Philippines left the Philippine market permanently.
DeletePGA Cars isn't interested of selling Volkswagen EVs and vehicles at Audi prices same goes for Autohub Group and Inchcape which aren't interested in selling Volkswagen vehicles in the Philippines due to pricing issues.
Astara is dropping out Peugeot this year so I doubt they'll get Volkswagen
The agony is over.
ReplyDeleteThis looks bad for Ayala. They keep on getting brands, play with it for a couple of years then do a raffle which to retain which to dispose. Then look again for new brands and repeat process. No strategy, no long term planning. That is alagang Ayala. Walang iwanan laging papalitan
ReplyDeletesoon to happen for Kia, they intentionally dont release competitive models because of BYD
DeleteIt was under them for more than 10 years. If how you're describing it was true then long ago na nila binitawan ang VW.
DeletePlus, that's not even looking at how VW has been performing for that same time. They went through the massive deiselgate scandal that forced them to buy back billions of dollars worth of cars and tarnished the brand to a certain extent.
There are a good number of videos on YouTube talking about why they've declined (and how they kinda lost their identity) and it's not surprising to me that they left our market to slowly die as they were more focused on recovering in their home market as well as having lost so much of their previous market share in China which was a lot of their total global income.
In a sense, I think Ayala tried because of how long it took them to give up but medyo problematic si VW for the period na hinawakan nila.
I beg to disagree. Ang consumer, iiwanan... ilalag ka lang.
DeleteBYD is a huge hit in the Philippines, in spite of Ayala. Any other company with a pocket deep enough would’ve had the same result. Solar Transport (the original distributor, now a mere dealer) could’ve done this themselves had they invested more on expanding and marketing BYD. Unfortunately, the Tiengs didn’t have the resources Ayala had. It must really hurt them to see someone else savor the fruits that they planted. Well, at least they still get a taste of that fruit as a BYD dealer.
DeletePaano iwanan ang customers? The article itself qoutes VW who say they will commit to providing services. A lot of these comments reek of poor reading comprehension.
DeleteTo give Ayala some credit, they singlehandedly expanded the country’s EV charging network and are continuing to do so. If they didn’t have BYD, they would have never done that. Range anxiety is still a large concern among car buyers. BYD’s own sales numbers prove that, with PHEVs making up the majority of their sales.
DeleteVolkswagen Philippines wanted to sell made in China Volkswagen ID vehicles but the problem is that SAIC won't supply them ID EV vehicles at competitive prices.
ReplyDeleteVolkswagen ID Buzz is gonna be priced 5 Million up to 6 Million Pesos if Volkswagen Philippines tried to sell in the Philippine market
The ID Buzz is overpriced in general and doesn't have as big of a nostalgia hook here as compared to other countries so I doubt it would have sold well even if slightly better priced.
DeleteThe newer ID cars (the ones teased for 2026-2027) have a better shot at capturing the market since they seem to more sensibly designed and VW says they will be cheaper to build as well).
if there is a will and there's a way!
DeleteThere were US launch edition ID.Buzzes (Germany built) brought in by an importer and selling at P10 million but which are "only" 60k USD or P3.3 million approx before shipping.
DeleteSourcing from China should be cheaper because of their well-developed and integrated supply chains. To put in perspective, the Camry in China sells for the equivalent of P1.1 million approx. So it seems SAIC-VW is part of the problem. By the same token, ACMobility must be enjoying healthy margins on BYDs if they cost not much more to bring in than those sold in China.
You're talking like ACMobility is buying the cars from the open market at Chinese prices. The Chinese market prices are partially a result of their manufacturing capacity and partially necessitated by lower demand from Chinese buyers so they adjust their prices and as a result their margins will go down too. BYD is in a position where it hurts them less because of how vertically integrated they are, but that doesn't mean they won't price for more profit if they can.
DeleteLet me ask you a question. Why would BYD let ACMobility get cars at rock bottom prices when they know how much they will sell for here (undercutting but not drastically)? The market is not the same (pinoys pay high prices for lower/barer models/specs that other markets wouldn't) so why sell at the same discounts?
On the other hand, for SAIC-VW, maybe they could or maybe they have a good reason why they can't. VW has shown to have made huge blunders in their decision making the past few years so it's not really out of character for them but hopefully they turn that around soon.
lets hope the same thing wont happen to byd x years down the road.
ReplyDeleteYep. Sa ngayon kumikita pa, so byd customers are still safe lol.
DeleteBYD plans to break away from AC Mobility and go solo in five years time or so similar to what MG and Geely did here in the Philippines.
DeleteThru should or else Ayala will dump them once sales dwindles like VW
DeleteAs long as byd is earning big and not collapsing, byd car owners are safe. The moment they falter a bit, they will suffer the same fate and sorry na lang ang mga byd owners. Like a hot potato... good bye.
DeletePeople here don't understand how the business works and think that moves like this leaves customers without options. Kahit reading the article would tell you that but I'm guessing a lot of people commenting just read the headline.
DeleteAlso, 12 years of management is a VERY slow cooking hot potato. Lol
I know business is business, but this doesn't bode well on ACMobility as a partner. Cutting ties with three brands in one year.......
ReplyDeleteVolkswagen's been major deep trouble in the Philippines since 2022 so I doubt it'll hurt the image of AC Mobility of Ayala Group
DeleteThey still own BYD and Kia which are more profitable and sales of those car brands are really good.
Interestingly, it actually gives the opposite impression to their shareholders and other people in the business.
DeleteThis is them proactively cutting down under performing brands and streamlining their operations which is seen as a good move and is very different from, say, the Geely situation which forced the main company to take over from a poorly performing distributor.
Honestly for many years the brand languished under their care, you would think they'd already tried to do something early enough to maybe help prop up the brand. SAIC also produces global nameplates like the Polo, Tiguan, and Passat, I wish they mixed it with China SAIC models para at least partly may familiarity pa rin with the buying public yung line up, bringing in only China centric models in a country were people are aware of what VW is, it's kinda like suicide?
DeleteAnd they scaled back dealership locations so drastically that it choked the brand, how can they expect to sell more if in the entirety of metro manila, there's only 1 or 2 branch? And one doesn't even have a service center
Peugeot even has more branches, and their sales are terrible.
So ayun rant lang lol, nakakadisappoint because VW is such a well known name here, and for a company that already handles several brands. Sana they've been more proactive early on palang, especially nung wala pa yung mga Chinese brands, wala pang masyadong kalaban.
Ayala knew that Volkswagen will command a higher price than competitors. They should have marketed accordingly instead they positioned it to more of a kia Hyundai competitor
ReplyDeleteIf the quality matched then they could have but one factor in the decreasing favorability of VW (at least in the time period under Ayala) was that it didn't feel like you were buying a nicely made, german engineered car, especially for the price being charged for the rather dated models being sold to us here.
DeleteAlso, you might think that german car = luxury (like BMW or MB) but VW is a mass market brand which is pretty in-line with the same target market of Hyundai-Kia (with some disparity).
Only option for VW to relaunch in PH is utilizing EV/HEV models since theyre 0% tarrifs and can be sourced anywhere. but it wouldnt account for much volume which is why VW wont possibly comeback until PH customers gets more purchasing power
ReplyDeleteVolokswagen na :(
ReplyDeleteFate of Car brands when in hands of Ayala
ReplyDeleteBYD soon will takeover
Ayala was mostly selling Volkswagen's Chinese cars. Don't know how to survive with such strategy. They also never attempted to bring in the ID series.
ReplyDeleteTo all VW cars owners- dont worry, VW are mandated to supply parts up to 10 years of ownership. The bad news- its next to impossible to re sell the car.
ReplyDeleteMandated, who’s going to sue who in this country and will you win? Sad reality
DeleteShould've positioned VW as a competitor to premium but not luxury brands such as Mazda or Subaru with their global models. The new golf in the US is very interesting to many enthusiasts here.
ReplyDeleteThat was the original plan, but they tried going for volume.
DeleteHi Sir Uly, would you know if VW pulling out of the PH market affect parts availability?
ReplyDeleteIn the short term it shouldn't matter as Ayala should have a stock of parts available. Long-term, it most certainly will have an effect, especially if no one takes over VW. For sure, things like resale value will take a big hit now though.
Delete