Cebu-based Global Star Motors is celebrating its sixth anniversary this July. The company holds the official dealership for Mercedes-Benz and Chrysler Group brands Chrysler, Dodge, Jeep and Ram in the Visayas and Mindanao.
In the midst of the pandemic, Global Star Motors marks its milestone with a humble recollection of its up and downs in the past six years.
“There are always challenging times, but especially last year. We’re just happy we survived through it,” said Global Star Motors’ senior vice president Kenneth Huan. “Now we are seeing growth already this year — our clients are starting to come back to our showroom and there are some new models. Growth is never ending.”
Global Star Motors’ mission to make luxury cars more accessible to Filipinos began as early as 2013. At that time, Huan and Edward Onglatco — current president of Global Star Motors — noticed that a lot of Cebuanos owned Mercedes-Benz units despite not having an official dealer in town.
There was a lot of work to be done and the process of earning the dealership was not easy. It took almost a year of meetings, before their showroom was finally opened in July 2016.
“When we opened, we had an overwhelming response from the market,” Onglatco said. “We’re really grateful to all the customers from day one until now. We’re thankful — it’s because of them that we survived and we want to assure them that we’re here for their after-sales. We want to make sure they are satisfied. Customer satisfaction helped us survive.”
The company is also the authorized service provider for Mercedes-Benz and Chrysler, Dodge, Jeep and Ram in the Visayas and Mindanao and holds the Global Star Motors Service Caravan, which visits key cities twice a year: Davao, Cagayan de Oro, Iloilo, Bacolod, Tagbilaran and Zamboanga.
“We want to assure that we take care of your vehicles even if you’re not from Cebu,” Onglatco said.
Global Star Motors is confident in their brands’ staying power.
“They’re not going to go away with any global crisis,” Onglatco stated. “Both Mercedes-Benz and the Chrysler Group are always in the frontlines in terms of technology, design and everything. They will always adapt to what is needed. We’re also confident in the Cebuanos who are discerning. The luxury market is different — they’ll buy two or three cars if they’re happy. We want to capitalize on that and we have a lot of repeat clients. That’s evident of something.”
Moving forward, Global Star Motors sees itself remaining steadfast in its commitment to be the dealer of choice in the luxury automotive market.
“When it comes to luxury, people will go for the very best,” Onglatco said.
“Our clients are not customers, they’re fans of the brand,” Huan added. “It’s different when you’re a fan — it’s really love for the brand. That’s the big difference.”
The Global Star Motors showroom is located on Cebu Veterans Drive, Nivel Hills, Apas, Cebu City.