Nissan wants more pie

Nissan are vying for a larger slice of the proverbial pie in the Philippines and they are banking on their partnership with the X-1R Corporation to help maintain the well-deserved reputation for excellence.

While Thailand and Indonesia are battling to be the automotive hub of South East Asia, the Philippines has been quietly building solid auto sales numbers. Sales of new vehicles in the Philippines surged by 29% in 2014, reaching a record high that exceeded 270,000 units. Meanwhile, vehicle sales in the two much larger neighbouring markets were sluggish; sales numbers in Indonesia and Thailand fell by 2% and 34%.

Falling crude oil prices and economic growth had and continue to boost automotive sales in the Philippines. Passenger car sales performed exceptionally well, soaring by 48% to about 90,000 units sold last year.

While most automakers were taking advantage of the favourable situation in the Philippines, Japanese automaker, Nissan, had hit pause. In early 2014, Nissan Motors Philippines (distributor of Nissan passenger cars) and Universal Motors Corporation (distributor of Nissan commercial vehicles) underwent a merger and reemerged as Nissan Philippines, Inc. (NPI). President and Managing Director of NPI, Antonio Zara, said, “…we regrouped ourselves to build our momentum for 2015. Finally, we got our acts together.”

It seems like NPI is ready to kick into high gear as the Philippine auto industry is off to a good start in 2015; the first month of the year, which is usually a slow month following the December peak, saw a promising 19.3% year-on-year increase in the country’s vehicle sales. NPI launched the all-new Nissan Navara in early February, announced that it was looking to sign up 10 new dealerships outside Metro Manila and it aims to grow its share of the Philippine auto market from the current 3% to 10%. 

The all-new Nissan Navara

Besides these lofty ambitions, Nissan is determined to maintain the crown it earned from last year’s JD Powers Customer Service Index, a customer satisfaction survey on after-sales service among new vehicle owners; Nissan had come out on top. Zara said that this global recognition of the marque’s service excellence was the company’s “driving force”.

So it is no surprise that customer-service-savvy Nissan includes X-1R products – namely the engine treatment, petrol system treatment and diesel system treatment – as part of its after-sales product offerings in the Philippines. X-1R Corporation is a manufacturer of auto performance products and NASA Hall of Fame Awardee, which products are Certified Space Technology.

Nissan follows other automakers in the Philippines, including Honda Ayala and Hyundai, which have been offering X-1R products to their customers to maximise the performance of their vehicles. A year ago, Hyundai entered into an agreement with X-1R to sell the popular X-1R Engine Treatment under a new brand, the HFT Engine Treatment, which is available exclusively in Hyundai service centres.

“We are pleased that automakers are increasingly aware of the importance of after-sales service and that quality products are vital to it,” said Harold Ledda, X-1R's Philippine Country Manager.

“We look forward to working with more car dealerships as the country’s auto industry continues to grow from strength to strength,” said Brixton Aw, President of CreativeSparx Inc., Philippine's exclusive national Distributor.

Click here to see the letters:

X1R Philippine Certificate
X1R Nissan Letter