Best time to come home: meet Nissan PH’s new president

By Aida Sevilla-Mendoza September 02,2014

ZARA: I don’t see the Asean Economic Community changing the manufacturing landscape in Southeast Asia.

When Antonio Zara, the new president and managing director of Nissan Philippines, Inc. (NPI), was working overseas, he noticed that most of the Filipinos he met also working abroad wanted to go home when they retired.  For 15 years, Zara was the vice president or managing director of marketing and sales of General Motors in several countries, living consecutively in Indonesia, Japan, Thailand and Korea after a four-year stint with GM in Manila. But he had always told his friends, “I don’t believe in exporting labor.  I want to retire young and contribute in some way to our country.” So when the offer came from Nissan Motor Co. to lead NPI (he will be 48 next month), he saw it as his chance to give back to his homeland.

 

“This is the best time to come home because we are on the verge of motorization,” Zara told Inquirer Motoring during an exclusive interview at the NPI office in Bonifacio Global City. He expects motorization outside Metro Manila and Cebu to increase and spread to the provinces when the middle class reaches $3,000 to $5,000 per capita level and can afford to buy new cars.

 

Zara pointed out that in Metro Manila, consumers buy new cars to replace old cars.  But motorization really happens when a person buys a new car for the first time, especially when that buyer used to commute, ride a motorcycle or drive a second-car.  Aware of the potential, NPI plans to develop not only the Metro Manila market, but also the rural areas.  “We want to provide the products that the middle class wants,” he said.

PERCEPTION.  Zara feels challenged by how Filipinos see the Nissan brand: “Over the years, the Filipino perception of the Nissan brand is not what it should be. Nissan is a global brand.  We need to build awareness of the Nissan brand by bringing in the right products, strengthening our dealer network and providing the service that Filipinos deserve. Uniting Nissan Motor Philippines, Inc. and Universal Motors Corporation into one joint venture under NPI as the controlling partner will help us achieve this.”

 

Asked whether he thinks that the Nissan Altima and Sylphy, the first two vehicles that NPI launched (when he was not yet NPI president), are the products that the Philippine middle class wants, Zara replied: “Nissan has been known here for light commercial vehicles, so introducing the Altima and the Sylphy shows that we have a full line and our strength in passenger cars.  Sylphy is unknown to Filipinos, so my job is to make people realize that Nissan has a Sylphy to replace the Sentra in the Car C market and offers a better choice than the Civic and the Altis.”

 

Meanwhile, NPI will continue to build cars at the Nissan Technopark in Santa Rosa, Laguna.  At present, NPI produces the Navara pickup truck, Urvan, Patrol Safari SUV and Almera sedan (B Car class.)  Surprisingly enough, the best-selling Nissan model is the Urvan. 350 units of which are sold every month.  According to the Chamber of Automotive Manufacturers of the Philippines, Inc. (CAMPI) report, the Urvan has cornered 50-percent market share in the 12 to 21 seater minivan segment.

 

OUR NICHE. The Urvan’s success bolsters Zara’s opinion that the Philippines can carve out its own niche in the world market by focusing on the van, just as Thailand decided in the 1970s to focus on the pickup despite a lot of criticism.  Thailand wanted to be the pickup producer of the world and succeeded in attracting global carmakers to invest there as their production hub for pickups, Zara said.  Now, Thailand is focusing on big motorbikes and is launching the second phase of its eco-car program.  Nissan Motor is building a new transmission plant in Thailand and just launched the Datsun brand in Indonesia, where the Low Cost Green Car Program is thriving and spurred new car sales in 2013.

 

“We need to define our niche in the world market,” Zara said.  “We need to learn from many markets. We have to make sure that vehicles follow safety and emission standards in order to build our niche. But it’s hard to build a business case for the Philippines (to attract foreign direct investments) because the car industry is much bigger in Thailand and Indonesia. Our auto industry is not large enough to compete head on with Thailand and Indonesia. Let them fight in that area and let’s create our own space.”

 

Asked whether NPI has plans to produce other Nissan models locally, Zara answered: “Until the Road Map of the Auto Industry is signed, we can’t tell what models we’ll add.  We need to have a clear road map, a clear policy.  The rules of the game can’t or shouldn’t be changed after we have invested.”

 

THE AEC. Regarding the Asean Economic Community (AEC), Zara said: “Nissan welcomes the AEC as it clearly demonstrates how strong Asean is as a regional block.  I don’t see the AEC changing the manufacturing landscape in Southeast Asia, as the aim of AEC from the standpoint of exchanging goods has been there through the AFTA (Asean Free Trade Area.)”  He revealed that per Nissan’s midterm plan, Nissan Motor Co. aims to grow its Southeast Asian market share from 5 percent in 2013 to 15 percent by 2016, while global market share is targeted to grow from 6.2 percent in 2013 to 8 percent by 2016.

 

Those are big growth plans, especially for the Southeast Asian market, and Zara is anchoring Asean growth on the expansion of the Thai and Indonesian markets. Meanwhile,

 

NPI is all set to launch the all-new X-Trail at the 5th Philippine International Motor Show at the World Trade Center on September 18 as its third new model here.  “We want the new X-Trail to be a best seller, so we’ll price it competitively.  It’s a compact SUV like the Honda CR-V and Toyota RAV4.  I want to surprise the market that this SUV is much more than what they expect,” Zara concluded.

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