If there’s one brand we’d love to give an overhaul, it would be Volkswagen. Not that there’s anything wrong with Volkswagen per se, but rather, we’d like to see more of its global models in the local lineup.
At the moment, most of the models we have here are sourced from China made by SAIC. Out of all the current offerings, only the Multivan and T-Cross are sold worldwide. Even then, the Philippine-spec T-Cross is made in China.
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But there might be some glimmer of hope for the Volkswagen Philippines lineup. According to Paultan.org, the German automaker is looking at Malaysia to be one of its main export hubs. On top of that, VW would also like Malaysia to produce its electric models for the region. The site states that Malaysia’s minister of international trade and industry, Tengku Datuk Seri Zafrul Abdul Aziz, met up with officials from Volkswagen Group Malaysia and was able to confirm VW’s assembly plans for the country.
Malaysia has been assembling various Volkswagen models for years now. Currently, it builds the Golf, Tiguan, Arteon, and Touareg. However, those built there are only sold within its home market care of HICOM Automotive Manufacturers. At the moment, Malaysia is the only country that builds Volkswagen models in Southeast Asia.
With that, we could see more Malaysian-built Volkswagens to be sold in neighboring countries. At the same time, we might see more global models on offer sold for less. Of course, we’re not jumping the gun just yet. Volkswagen Philippines seems to be sticking to its guns when it comes to offering the SAIC-sourced models.
Still, it might make better business sense to get the established models from within Southeast Asia instead of selling Chinese models that still have yet to gain a strong brand equity locally. It will all depend on Volkswagen Philippines’ distributor to make the move, though, and its next steps could either make or break the brand here.
