AC Motors of the Ayala Group on Wednesday reported a 30-percent growth across its five automobile brands last year, outpacing the industry expansion of 18 percent.
AC Motors president for automobile group Antonio Zara III said the company will continue its strategy as it welcomes 2022.
“We are looking at strengthening our presence in the truck market which is recovering faster from the pandemic. Further expansion of our network and digitization will likewise continue. Together with a partner, we are about to launch an innovative solution for used car trade-ins,” Zara said during a thanksgiving event Monday.
He said the company would pursue projects in the pipeline that would continue to redefine how things are and will be in 2022 including studies on electric vehicles.
Zara said that in 2022, AC Motors planned to steadily grow its sales volume, starting with the launch of the all-new Kia Carnival.
He said AC Motors was also exploring opportunities to become a key player in sustainable mobility in line with Ayala Group’s commitment to achieve net zero greenhouse gas emissions by 2050.
Ayala is the only Philippine conglomerate to commit to, and support, an ambitious environmental goal.
“As our contribution to this strategic goal, we at AC Motors will actively explore bringing electric vehicles to the domestic market. We need to make EV ownership more accessible. We will, however, need support from the government,” Zara said.
Since Electric Vehicle law and its corresponding roadmap is about to be finalized, the government must consider lowering import duties aside from excise tax privileges. The law will protect strategic sectors such as the public utility vehicles (PUV) but allow easier importation of private vehicles.
Among the new models introduced by AC Motors last year were Maxus D60; Volkswagen T-Cross and Multivan; Kia Sorento; Isuzu D-MAX and mu-X; and Honda Civic, City and City Hatchback.