SSANGYONG Berjaya Motor Philippines, the fourth largest automobile manufacturer in South Korea, has taken a foothold in Cebu as it widens its market few months after opened its full-service dealership in October 2016.
Roy Silverio, Operations manager of SsangYong, said that they have plans on expansion knowing that there are a lot of people coming from Mindanao which are potential buyers.
"We have SsangYong buyers from Dipolog, Davao, Cagayan de Oro, and even Palawan. We have buyers already that came from Mindanao," he added.
David Macasadia, managing director of SsangYong, said the company has been in the manufacturing business for more than 60 years and is present in more than 115 countries. It had a short stint in the Philippines two decades ago and has now returned, most especially for the benefit of those who know and own the company's vehicles.
SsangYong Cebu is the first dealership in the Visayas-Mindanao area.
"We have a dealership in Metro Manila - three sales outlets; Quezon City, Cainta and Malolos, then here in Cebu. The dealership in Cebu is run by the Borromeo family," he said. He added that the company is backed up by Berjaya Philippines, one of the biggest conglomerates in Asia.
Cherry Lou Villaester, Marketing and Public Relations officer, said "We are going to focus on bringing SsangYong closer to the Cebuanos. We are going to focus on having more events, more activities for test drives and the leaders are going to be more focused on participating the local scene."
Macasadia said that they are mainly offering four European-inspired vehicles which are the Tivoli, Korando, Tivoli XLV, and Rodius.
He said the Tivoli is a small sport utility vehicle (SUV) or subcompact SUV with a length under and around 4.20 meters. Korando is a compact SUV with a length roughly between 4.25 to 4.60 meters. While the Tivoli XLV is an extended version of the Tivoli since it is a little longer with large baggage space. The Rodius (King of the Road) is a multi-purpose vehicle with a functionality of a full SUV. It is available in three variants based on seat configuration: 7, 9, and 11-seater.
Macasadia said SsangYong customers will receive top-notch customer service with its free three-year periodic maintenance service which means that if the customer buys a vehicle, he/she will no longer need to go back and pay for periodic maintenance for three years.
“The regular manufacturer's warranty is three years for P100,000; we are extending it to five years for same amount. Three years or 60,000 kilometers whichever comes first,” Macasadia said.
“We are also inviting all the owners of the old SsangYong vehicles. We are accepting their vehicles for servicing. We have technicians who are very much capable to diagnose and repair vehicles. We are backed up with a warehouse full of genuine spare parts from Korea,” he added. The warehouse is located at Calamba City.
“For owners of old vehicles, there may be parts that are not in stock but we can easily import. We could supply,” he said.
For new vehicles, the company has 1,500-square meter warehouse dedicated for parts alone.
Service Center is right behind the showroom at 66 Gorordo Avenue, Cebu City. (CID/SunStar Philippines)