It’s perfect time to be in the motoring industry

The all-new Benz C-Class

This coming Thursday until Sunday, Sept. 18-21, will be the 5th Philippine International Motor Show. Many new cars will be displayed and launched as well, such as Isuzu’s all-new MU-X, which we got to see at last year’s Tokyo Motor Show; the third-generation Nissan X-Trail, a radical departure from the conservatively styled second generation coming from a highly revitalized Nissan Pilipinas Inc.; the third-generation Mitsubishi Outlander, which will be sold soon in our country; and the highly impressive Honda Brio and its variant Amaze, which mark Honda’s formal entry into the A segment.

We will also get to see cars of the future such as Mitsubishi’s Plug-In Hybrid Outlander (based on the third-generation platform), the world’s first plug-in hybrid sport utility vehicle breaking cover for the first time, and concept vehicles from Toyota (the Fun-Vii) and the CA-MieV from Mitsubishi. Then we’ll also see the all-new BMW X4 SAV and Mercedes-Benz’s C-Class, and Lexus’ highly anticipated NX compact segment luxury crossover SUV. Lots of new cars to satisfy car enthusiasts, cost-conscious family car shoppers, environmentally responsible motorists and even engineering geeks that appreciate automotive transportation.

It’s the best time to be in the motoring industry. Car sales are projected to hit as high as 250,000 cars this year for all segments (passenger cars, light trucks, commercial vehicles, SUVs and the like). It’s also a fantastic time to be looking for a job in the motoring industry as car companies are all in expansion mode, increasing their product lineups and dealership outlets, not to mention that more foreign brands are finally gracing our shores for the next six to 12 months.

Dynamic, exciting

Also, many of my dear friends in the motoring industry, who I met exactly a decade ago, have now moved up the corporate ladder, which leaves vacancies needed to be filled. So to all job hunters and fresh graduates, look into the car industry. It needs salespeople, marketing people, engineers, managers, product planners and the like. It’s an exciting industry to work for and a very dynamic one. More and more people in the motoring industry are becoming more passionate, being surrounded by cars—a huge change from a decade earlier.

More car sales means more jobs being created, leading to more money going around for everyone (in terms of salaries and wages), and in turn, crucially, more taxes for our government.

But what is our government doing to support the automotive industry?

The Toyota Fun-Vii concept

The recent survey and study by the Japanese, which concluded that over P2 billion is being lost every day due to the worsening traffic situation, is very telling. Many car companies who manufacture locally (Toyota, Honda, Mitsubishi and Isuzu primarily) are having difficulties keeping the assembly lines working efficiently because key components sourced abroad are trickling in very slowly, which means factory workers have to slow down their work, leading to a decrease in output efficiency by as much as over 30 percent according to the CEO of one such company I spoke to. If this situation continues unabated, car companies will slowly find it less feasible to manufacture locally, which will eventually wipe out thousands of jobs in automotive factories.

Implementation woes

Former President and now Manila City Mayor Joseph “Erap” Estrada is supposedly to blame. In the long term, I believe in what Mayor Estrada has done. But how it was implemented leaves much to be desired as there were no alternative plans to route traffic in and out of the Port of Manila and its environs, and the long queue of trucks unable to enter Manila caused the massive traffic jam along North Luzon Expressway’s southbound lane. Because Manila is the capital, and some say the soul of the Philippines, what happens there affects the entire country, or at least the entire island of Luzon!

I highly suggest that both Mayor Estrada and President Aquino look into the traffic situation. Yes, I understand there are many planned improvements, such as the Skyway Stage III linking South Luzon Expressway to NLEx, that will massively improve traffic. But these infrastructure improvements are all long-term solutions which are highly needed. We need both short- and medium-term solutions to tide us over until these long-term infrastructure projects come into fruition. Along with the Skyway Stage III project, Metro Manila, which is divided by many waterways and tributaries, needs more bridges, something we’ll look into in the future.

For short-term solutions, aside from the stricter supervision of the bus and truck lanes (the truck lane on C-5 seems to really work), we need to assess the U-turn slots and intersections. Quezon Avenue is a great example of this; it has opened up some key intersections but retained a fair amount of U-turn slots to help keep traffic flowing more seamlessly, which seems to be working well.

Another key improvement is the clearing operations against illegally parked vehicles and sidewalk vendors. Much like the highly questionable practice of various antismoke-belching units that constantly operate, the sidewalk clearing and towing of illegally parked vehicles should be done continuously, particularly on major thoroughfares such as Edsa (the Balintawak and Muñoz markets are still infamous for these, having seen it myself last week). Government should also strictly implement proper loading/unloading areas for PUVs and, yes, upgrade the Edsa-MRT 3. It is very heavily underutilized because of the old trains that either need to be repaired or replaced.

Better roads

Mr. President, I know you love cars and driving them. Many of our country’s leaders are car enthusiasts, and many of you guys don’t feel the traffic because you have police convoys that maneuver through traffic to clear your paths. You never know what it’s like to experience a three-hour traffic jam that otherwise would normally take only 20 minutes to go through. So I enjoin all of you to come up with the ways and means to improve traffic.

My personal belief is that if government spends on infrastructure (wider, world-class roads, bridges, etc.), financial control systems, safety and security, the private sector will thrive and govern itself (for the most part), thus adding more taxes to the government’s coffers. Free-flowing traffic also improves safety and security (the recent abduction of a Filipino-Chinese preschooler along Edsa is proof of the dangers caused and multiplied by traffic), and allow us Filipinos to work more efficiently, alleviate stress from our daily lives and lift ourselves from poverty.

All these make working in the car industry even more exciting and driving our cars less stressful. With better roads, there will be less wear and tear on our cars, which means more savings and less expense. And this means I can get to the Philippine International Motor Show on Thursday without being late. I’d like to personally invite our country’s leaders, Mayor Estrada and P-Noy especially, to drop by the motor show at the World Trade Center. Don’t just see the cars, check also the efforts of the people working in the automotive industry to make our motoring lives better, brighter, safer and more environmentally friendly, all for all our future!