CEBU CITY – Businessmen here who are engaged in car dealerships have expressed their support to the government’s vaccination drive, pointing out this is an important step for the economy to fully recover and regain consumer confidence moving forward.

“Amidst the pandemic, we are opening a new shop to inspire other businesses and entrepreneurs to open because our economy is slowly recovering, and to generate more jobs,” Cebuano entrepreneur Joseph Lo, executive vice president of Toyota Mabolo Cebu Inc., told the Philippine News Agency on Saturday at the launch of the firm’s showroom at SM City Cebu.

Lo said their expansion signifies their optimism on the recovery of the country’s economy.

“We actually decided to open our showroom amidst the pandemic to inspire other businesses, other entrepreneurs to signify that this is the new normal we should get used to and they should also be opening their businesses as well, to keep the economy running and generate jobs” he added.

Lo said they hope this will inspire not only the automotive industry but also all sectors to be optimistic about the economy’s recovery path, especially as more people will get vaccinated in the coming months.

“Some businesses are holding back on their investments. But here, we are optimistic about the future. We fully support the government’s vaccination rollout because it will fast track our recovery, especially in the business sector,” he said.

Prospects
Lo also expressed confidence in the company’s prospects next year, especially that 2022 is an election year.

The election will create economic activity not only in the automotive industry but in other industries as well, he added.

Lo said they are “very optimistic” there will be a good amount of spending to be done, giving a boost to the economy.

He added their decision to set up a 3,000-square-foot satellite complementing store signifies the company is ready for the new normal.

Earlier, the Chamber of Automotive Manufacturers of the Philippines Inc. (CAMPI) and the Truck Manufacturers Association (TMA) had disclosed that the country’s automotive vehicle sales recovered in the first quarter of 2021 amid the global health and economic crisis.

CAMPI and TMA said vehicle sales from January to March this year posted an 8.9-percent increase compared to January and February 2020, which were pre-pandemic months.

“For 2021, we did pretty well from January all the way to May; not as good as (during the same period in) 2019, but we’re hopeful that we are on our way to economic recovery,” Lo said of their sales performance.

In a separate interview with Andre Borromeo, general manager of Fairlane Automotive Ventures Inc. (FAVI), said the car industry is seeing signs of picking up and is banking on the vaccination rollout to return business growth to the pre-pandemic levels.

Borromeo said the inoculation program is “very crucial” to the country’s economic future as he urged the public to get vaccinated to help in the recovery efforts.

FAVI, the company operating the dealership centers of Ford in Visayas and Mindanao, recently opened a new dealer center in Talisay, a city south of Cebu City.

Despite the economic challenges, Borromeo said the coronavirus disease 2019 (Covid-19) pandemic has sparked the interest of consumers to own cars, especially those avoiding mass transport.

This, he said, is giving car dealers an opportunity to take advantage of the improving consumer confidence.

Yvonne Bala, vehicle sales manager of Toyota Mabolo, said they expect an increase in sales from the small and medium enterprises (SMEs) which will be acquiring service vehicles.

Their company posted a 40-percent increase in sales from January to May this year compared to last year.

However, their sales were lower by 20 percent compared to the same period in 2019, which is not bad considering there is still a pandemic, she added. (PNA)