MANILA -- There is already a high demand for electric vehicles (EVs) in the Philippines, a car distributor said Wednesday.

"We have customers across all of our different brands already putting in orders and inquiring about EVs," said Inchcape South Asia and Pacific Managing Director Alex Hammet.

"And so, together with the CATS Group of Companies and Inchcape, we’re already putting in some significant investments in our properties, transformers, stabilized power," he said.

"We’ll also be launching two new unique e-vehicles from two different (original equipment manufacturers) in the month of September alone," he added.

Inchcape in January signed a deal to form a joint venture with luxury car distributor CATS Group of Companies.

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Hammet noted that more charging stations and other infrastructure supporting the transition to electric vehicles seem to be popping up around the country.

"I think the Philippines, from my perspective, it will be a slow burn, and then it will take off."

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"We’re seeing this in a lot of markets where as soon as the products start coming in, and the OEMs can provide reliable service and charging infrastructure, then the growth is substantial and very quickly," he said.

Hammet said Inchcape Philippines has also signed a deal to distribute China's Changan International Corporation.

"With the addition of Changan into the portfolio now...we’re now looking to go into the mass market and separate ourselves from just purely a luxury market distributor," he said.

CATS, Inchcape's joint venture partner, has a distribution agreement in the Philippines with Mercedes-Benz, Chrysler, Jeep, Dodge, Jaguar, Land Rover, Mazda and Harley Davidson Motorcycles.

Hammet also said he sees the demand for cars in the Philippines to grow further.

"Year-on-year the markets already up 30 percent, in (the first half of the year). So our view is with a young population, with a growing population, a strong economy, we’re out looking to see that the market will reach 500,000 in the next few years," he said.

--ANC, 30 August 2023