Volkswagen, Ayala ink car dealership partnership

MANILA, Philippines–European car giant Volkswagen AG has engaged the diversified Ayala group into a new car distribution partnership, seeking to harness an increasing consumer affluence in the country as part of its ambition towards global leadership.

Volkswagen, which is headquartered in Wolfsburg, Germany, announced on Wednesday the appointment of Ayala’s wholly-owned subsidiary, Ayala Automotive Holdings Corp. , as the Philippine distributor for Volkswagen passenger vehicles.

This distributorship agreement brings together two premier corporate names to compete in an industry with high-growth potential.

“We are very excited to bring Volkswagen’s technology and engineering expertise to the Philippine market. This partnership will no doubt enhance our current portfolio of auto brands given the dominant position of Volkswagen in the global automotive market. This will allow us to offer a much wider range of passenger vehicles in the local market, which will reinforce further Ayala’s strong presence in the local automotive industry,” Ayala Corp. president and chief operating officer Fernando Zobel de Ayala said in a press statement.

Weiming Soh, President, Commercial Operations, Greater China/ASEAN (Association of Southeast Asian Nations), Volkswagen AG, commented: “Building on the Ayala group’s excellent reputation and market knowledge, we are excited about offering consumers in the Philippines Volkswagen’s outstanding line-up of vehicles and providing them with an unparalleled level of sales and service experience.

“As an important part of Volkswagen’s ASEAN growth strategy, we, jointly with the Ayala Group, plan to rapidly and robustly establish the brand Volkswagen in the Philippines, contributing to our vision to become the world’s number one car manufacturer by 2018,” Soh said.

The Volkswagen group is the world’s second largest automobile manufacturer as of 2011, with global sales of 8.265-million units accounting for a 12.3 percent share of the passenger car market. It has has 99 production plants in 27 countries and employs more than 500,000 employees worldwide as of end-2011. Volkswagen vehicles are sold in 153 countries.

Ayala has diversified business interests in the Philippines and is a leading player in real estate development, banking and financial services, telecommunications, water infrastructure development, electronics manufacturing, and business process outsourcing. It has recently entered new sectors with investments in power generation and transport infrastructure development.