To kick off AC Motors’ 30th year since the opening of the first Ayala-owned Honda dealership, the company held a series of virtual appreciation nights for media friends.
In his welcome remarks, AC Motors automotive group President Antonio “Toti” Zara III revealed, “As a show of our confidence and commitment to the industry, our distributor brands are working on launching at least six models (in 2021). We are also planning to open six company-owned showrooms across our five auto brands in addition to franchised appointments.” While the executives were mum as to which models and brands these were, the excitement could be felt from their demeanor.
Zara stressed that AC Motors would “work towards achieving at least a 10% share in the automotive market by 2025” despite the setback of the 2020 pandemic.
“We acknowledge that the local market still needs to recover from the devastating effects of an ongoing pandemic. But history has shown the resilience of our automotive market, time and again, through all manner of crises – and we are confident that this time will be no different,” he said.
Last year, during the strictest of the series of community quarantines enforced by the government in order to stem the spread of Covid-19, AC Motors’ companies applied fundamental changes and innovations in order to adapt to the new normal of business and service operations. Such changes and innovations included the thorough digitalization of its practices, and the launch of its “one-stop-shop” AC Motors website www.acmotors.com.ph.
AC Motors began as Ayala Automotive Holdings Corporation, through which Ayala helped bring in the Honda brand and launched the Philippines’ first Honda Cars dealership in 1991. It did the same in 1996 with the Isuzu brand. Afterward, in less than 6 years, from 2013 to 2019, AC Motors acquired exclusive distributorships for three more world-renowned brands, starting with the German Volkswagen brand in 2013, the Korean Kia brand in January 2019, and finally, the British Maxus brand of LCVs in June 2019.
AC Motors now finds itself in that unique industry position to evolve rapidly from a distributor and dealership business into an enterprise that serves the diverse mobility needs of a fast-growing Philippine market.
Zara attests that, ultimately, it is the Filipino motorist for which AC Motors exists. “Through all these times, whether facing challenges or opportunities, we at AC Motors have always placed our customers—the Filipino motorists—at the front and center of our plans. Our unwavering commitment to serve our customers and provide them the products best suited for their needs have kept us moving, adapting, growing, and innovating.”