Mercedes-Benz adds a star

Car aficionado and gaming entrepreneur Rene Nuñez recently took over the post of Felix Ang as CATS Motors president as Ang became the company’s chair of the board.

CATS Motors was the exclusive distributor of Mercedes-Benz and American auto brands Chrysler, Dodge, Jeep and Ram until 2014, when the management formed Auto Nation Group Inc. (ANG Inc.) as a separate company to be the sole importer and distributor for the said German and American marques.

The spin-off was made as a directive from Daimler Germany, makers of Mercedes-Benz, to distinguish the functions of an importer/distributor and its retail function as a showroom dealer.

CATS Motors would now be focusing on the retail aspect of the business, including aftersales service while ANG Inc. would function as the distributor in the Philippine market, which would also supply and service the other two dealerships not owned by  Ang.

CATS, whose acronym stands for Car Accessories, Tires and Service Center, was started in 1989 by Ang as an importer and retailer of car accessories and tires as well as a car care service center.

In 1993, CATS became an authorized Mercedes-Benz workshop and dealer. As the company continued to expand, CATS became the distributor of Mercedes-Benz, Chrysler, Jeep and Dodge in the country in January of 2005.

Back then, all these brands were under the Daimler-Chrsyler conglomerate. Later on, Daimler sold its Chrsyler business interests to the Fiat group.

Currently, CATS has four dealerships—two for  Mercedes-Benz (in Greenhills and BGC) and two for the Chrysler brands (Greenhills and Makati).

This was the first time the camera-shy Nuñez had his interview as president of CATS Motors. He talked about how he became enamored with the tri-star brand as a kid sitting in his uncle’s Mercedes-Benz.

Fresh out of college, he traded his just-months-old 1991 Mitsubishi Lancer (which was given to him  by his parents after landing his first job) for a 15-year-old two-door Mercedes-Benz 280CE.

After a few months, he managed to convince his parents to buy him another  Mercedes-Benz, this time, a 1980s five-door Mercedes-Benz 300TD estate wagon.

Years have passed and he became a successful entreprenuer in the gaming industry.

Avid collector

He now he has several current models and highly collectible classic Mercedes-Benzes acquired over the years.

“I’ve known Felix for the last 18 years because of a common interest, which is cars, particularly the Mercedes-Benz. Last year, he was asked by Daimler to spin off the retail functions from the distributionship because Daimler wanted to separate the retail and wholesale part of the business,” said Nuñez.

“Last year, he decided to talk to me, and wanted me to buy into CATS Motors. As a lot of my friends know, my brand of choice was Mercedes-Benz. I have also been the president of Mercedes-Benz Club of the Philippines for at least five years. That basically broke the ice between me and Mr. Ang,” he added.

“Also, I was sort of wanting to try doing something I love, so that’s how it came about. It is a great honor for me to be entrusted with a company Felix has built up for the last 25 years,” said Nuñez.

Nuñez started from another industry, but his passion for cars eventually led him to the industry he truly loves.

Because of his extensive experience in restoring and maintaining his cars, as well as his mechanical engineering background, he is very hands-on when it comes to the service aspect of the business.

He would regularly be consulted by the service team about diagnosing problems. And even without consulting the manual, he is usually spot on with his solutions.

Passion for autos

Even if he was part of the lucrative gaming business, his passion toward automobiles made him decide to shift to the automotive industry. “Before you can indulge in classic Mercedes-Benz cars, you have to do something outside you love. For the past 15 years I have been involved in the gaming industry. Right now, I still maintain some directorship positions in these companies. My last stint was to run Midas Hotel and Casino for two years for the Leisure and Resorts World Group, and before that, I ran the First Cagayan Converge Data Center which was a call center for the gaming industry,” he said.

His vision for CATS is to continue projecting Mercedes-Benz as a successful brand in this country. “When you ask a person how they have achieved success, the instant answer is driving a Mercedes-Benz. It is a sign that you have arrived,” said Nuñez, adding that owning a Mercedes-Benz is one of the benchmarks of success. He wishes to continue  to work on keeping this same impression on the brand.

Secondly, he wants to showcase models that are considered quite affordable, with the same build quality and craftsmanship expected in a Mercedes-Benz.

Nuñez was referring to NGCCs, short for new generation compact cars. He wanted to debunk the myth that the brand is just for the more mature, 40- to 50-year-old market.

“I told our sales team that my vision for the dealership is that our customers will thank you for selling them a Mercedes-Benz,” he added.

Nuñez said he would soon be working on his vision for the American brands under the dealership.

During the interview and photo shoot, he brought along two of his favorite classic Mercedes-Benzes, a 1969 280SL “Pagoda” sports car and a 1969 280SE cabriolet, which Nuñez said is one of the last handbuilt cars made by the brand.

“I bought these cars several years ago at a premium, but I had been fortunate that these cars have significantly increased in value,” he said.

A full length video of the interview will be uploaded very soon on motioncars.inquirer.net.  The video is a webisode series called “Car Talk and Coffee,” hosted by Inquirer Motoring’s Ardie Lopez.