Hyundai Philippines’ model lineup could have lower price tags soon

The Philippine automotive industry is filled with a lot of industry players that offer their respective brand-new cars for sale. Through the years, the local automotive market is arguably saturated with Japanese cars as Toyota Motor Philippines lead the pack.

However, the local market saw a resurgence of Chinese car brands such as Maxus, Chery, and Geely in 2019. Maxus has recently expanded its local model line-up with the launch of the G50 MPV.

While Chery made its comeback in the Philippine market and introduced an all crossover model lineup including the Tiggo 2 and the Chery Tiggo 8. On the other hand, Geely took the market by surprise as its Coolray skyrocketed to achieving notable unit sales. In fact, it is the top-selling subcompact crossover in the Philippines in October 2020 with 205 units sold.

2020 Geely Coolray

One of the reasons for the Coolray’s success in the Philippines is its bang-for-the-buck price tag. It comes with a starting price of Php 978,000 while its top-spec variant comes at Php 1,198,000. Moreover, the exterior and interior styling of the Coolray is notable.

So, what does this have to do with Hyundai Philippines? Well, Hyundai Motor Company (HMC) is set to have its first manufacturing plant in Southeast Asia that will be located at the Deltamas Industrial Complex in Indonesia. The said plant is expected to begin operation in the second half of 2021.

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Hyundai's plant in Indonesia to begin operation next year

As such, when the said plant goes operational, Hyundai cars bound for the Philippine market would most likely be sourced from Indonesia. This means that the model lineup of Hyundai PH will come with lower price tags due to the ASEAN Free Trade Area (AFTA), which is an agreement that eliminates tariff or import tax.

By potentially lowering the prices of its model lineup through AFTA, Hyundai Philippines can square up even better with its competitors in the market. It could even undercut the market shares of other Chinese cars sold in the Philippines.

2021 Hyundai Venue

Hyundai’s plant in Indonesia will initially produce compact sport utility vehicles and sedans. It is also expected to manufacture hybrid and electric vehicles in the future. In a report by Autoindustriya, the first two models to be produced at the Indonesia plant is a small four-door sedan as well as a small five-door hatchback.

The sedan will start production by the third quarter (Q3) of 2022 while the hatch will be in Q4 2022. Autoindustriya added that the plant will produce a small seven-seater MPV in Q2 2022.

For more updates on the automotive industry, visit Philkotse.com.