TATA Motors Limited, one of the biggest automobile manufacturers in India, officially opened a dealership in Cebu last Wednesday along A.S. Fortuna Street in Barangay Banilad, Mandaue City.
Tata Motors Cebu is the company’s second dealership in the Visayas region next to Tata Motors Bohol and is the seventh in the entire country.
Franklyn Ong, Tata Motors Cebu president and chief executive officer, said during the dealership’s launching that they will be focusing on selling commercial vehicles for business use. He cited the need for delivery or service vehicles of small and medium-scale businesses.
“So for business to business use. Kanang mga dili pang suroy-suroy (those that are not for leisure use),” Ong said.
John Fernandez, Tata Motors Philippines president added that in line with focusing on marketing commercial vehicles, the company is also looking to develop a dealership network in the countryside, rather than within the metro.
Based on company estimates, the underserved market in the countryside is around 40 percent.
“We’re moving to the countryside, or outside the cities. We’re looking at agricultural goods movers,” Fernandez said.
Stiff competition among car dealers in metropolitan cities was cited as reason for the move. But the company is still confident of carving a market in Cebu.
“We are very confident here, particularly with the growth of businesses here in Cebu, and the number of multicabs plying the roads,” Fernandez said.
Aside from the new Cebu branch, the firm is also planning to open a Tata Service Center in the south of Cebu. Ong said this is expected to open in the last quarter of the year.