Will we see this Chinese brand in PH?
Last year we saw the launch of Geely, Chery, and Changan (now renamed to Kaicene) in the Philippines. Many years ago we saw the launch of Foton and Haima and many other brands. Will we be seeing another one introduced in the country? Well this report from CarGuide.PH says so.
The Chinese car brand we’re talking about is Changan. Familiar? The commercial vehicle lineup of Changan is currently distributed by Berjaya Auto Asia but will be renamed to Kaicene (Kai-chen) effective July 1, 2020. This according to CarGuidePH’s report can further add to the speculation that Changan may start offering their passenger car lineup but under a different distributor.
According to their source, this distributor is no other than the same people behind Hyundai Asia Resources, Inc. (HARI), the official distributor of Hyundai passenger cars, trucks and buses in the Philippines.
Changan’s passenger vehicles were once available in the country together with their light commercial vehicles as Chana, distributed by Focus Ventures. Eventually the brand was transferred to Berjaya Auto Asia which now only sells the commercial vehicle lineup.
Also according to the report, as early as January that there were plans for dealer principals to make a courtesy call to the Changan headquarters in Chongqing, China. This never happened due to the COVID-19 pandemic. Despite that, it looks like it is still possible for the company’s expansion plans in the country to push through.
It also looks like the distributorship of the Changan brand will be separate depending on the type of vehicles offered. Light commercial vehicles bearing the “A” logo will be distributed by Berjaya Auto Asia under the Kaicene brand. Passenger vehicles bearing the V-shaped logo will be distributed by another company.
