At the recent Chery Technology Day in Wuhu, the Chinese car company explained its global strategy as it ramps up its export business. The nearly two-hour-long set of presentations was so detailed and exhaustive that you'd imagine you were sitting in a board presentation or a marketing sign-off meeting. But it made sense to show it to the 600 or so Chery-brand users and media in attendance. It was a captive audience if ever there was one. El Plan One key observation we made was how Chery seems to

Disclosure: Chery Philippines lent us the 2024 Chery Tiggo 8 Pro e+ PHEV unit for seven days with a full tank of gas, a 70% charge on the battery and access to its RFID cards. Plug-in hybrid electric vehicles (PHEV) are the happy medium between a fully electric vehicle and an internal combustion engine. These give you the flexibility to travel on electric power alone, without worrying about where to charge next, thanks to the engine being on standby to keep you moving and to charge the battery.

Chinese carmaker Jetour has finally arrived in the Visayas region! The company announced in an October 2023 press statement that Jetour Auto Bacolod is now open for business. It features a 284-square-meter showroom that can display six Jetour models and a shared service area that can accommodate up to five cars. “Now that Jetour Auto Bacolod is here, we can pursue our goal of providing quality value-laden vehicles to our kababayans [countrymen] in Negros Occidental and neighboring provinces in t

Disclaimer: Jetour Auto Philippines paid for my airfare, transportation and accommodation for a week-long trip with other media practitioners to China, including a visit to Auto Shanghai 2023. Everybody in the Philippines is familiar with the Chery QQ from the mid to late 2000s. The dinky urban hatchback became the symbol of everything that was wrong with China-made cars. With shabby workmanship, questionable aftersales (if there were any) and non-existent warranties, the QQ was China’s first ma

Get the chance to check out the latest Geely models while you’re shopping in Pasig City. Sojitz G Auto Philippines Corporation (SGAP), the official importer and distributor of Geely in the Philippines, said in a February 2023 press statement that it opened an in-mall dealership at Ayala Malls the 30th. This is the second in-mall showroom that the Chinese car brand has set up, following the opening of the SM Taytay branch in Rizal in 2022. The company said the Ayala Malls dealer will be managed b

With the impending launch of the Hyundai Stargazer, Filipino subcompact MPV buyers will again be given another option to choose from in this hotly contested category. Along with the Suzuki Ertiga, the Toyota Veloz and Avanza, the Honda BR-V, the Mitsubishi Xpander, and the recently launched Nissan Livina, you can see how car manufacturers are going after a bigger slice of this growing pie. The trend is also evident around the ASEAN region, with PT Hyundai Motors Indonesia recently unveiling the