Gogoro Philippines Launch New Experience Store in Makati

It's a nice morning to celebrate new things as Gogoro Philippines just launched their new Gogoro Experience Store at the Greenbelt 3 in Makati City. The event was held at Ayala Museum with executives coming from the Ayala Corporation, Globe, GCash, 917 Ventures, Gogoro Taiwan, Gogoro Philippines, the Taiwanese Embassy in Manila and various stakeholders were in attendance to take a first glimpse of what will be launched and supposed to be sold next month. This is quite nice that they thought of making sure you experience riding, looking at the actual Electronic Vehicle first before they release it to the market.

Bernie Llamzon the President and CEO of GOGOGRO Philippines "It's a testament to urban mobility. Why are we opening the experience center? It's all about connection, and who stands to benefit from it, YOU. It's a bridge, we are opening our doors today so you can touch, feel and understand Gogoro. We are cultivating a community and it is an invitation for you to become part of the story. Your engagement and feedback will be part of our commercial launch next month. Welcome to the future of mobility, welcome to the new Gogoro Experience Center."

This is one of Ayala's projects in order to move to electric vehicles. Cesar Consing the CEO and President of the Ayala Corporation says "We do it across our companies, and this initiative of going green is something we take seriously. Gogoro is just an extension of that, we are going to lead the charge to EV's. That's what we are doing here, and this partnership of Gogoro and Globe, brought this EV brand in the Philippines. It's green, ecosystem and partnership that we are offering. We hope you like what you'll see."

Horace Luke the founder and CEO of Gogoro says "I've dreamed of this in 2011, we are now extending to outside Taiwan. Thank you to Ernest Cu of Globe who believes in me, and we know the world is going to two wheel and three wheel vehicles now. Thank you to the Gogoro Philippines team and the Taiwan team who worked tirelessly these past few years to bring this product to the PH. The electricity is sustainable, and recyclable parts are being used to make the footprint lower. We look forward to see what we built enable this vision in this country."

Ernest Cu the CEO of Globe says "When I saw this in Taiwan years ago, it was super nice. I didn't like bikes back then, EV was also too far from the Philippines. We timed our entry to the country, like GCash, no one was solving the problem and we only scaled it 6 years ago. The smartphone penetration was not as good, and when the pandemic hit we began working on it even more to become financially inclusive. Majority of Filipinos don't have plugs, the one minute swap is like prepaid... And we are the prepaid kings in the country. Now it is all paid electronically through GCash. It's different, and seamless now as it goes through the backbone of Globe and it's partners. Let us see the new Gogoro Experience Center, we want this to be perfect and hope you become our first customer."

You may also ask for a test drive as arrangements can be made, they also will explain to you the battery swapping mechanics so you could conveniently do it via their Gogoro Network power stations. The Smartscooters we saw on display was the Gogoro SuperSport, Gogoro VIVA and the Gogoro S1. Though they will make sure that the Gogoro 2 Premium and the Gogoro Delight will also be available in the Philippines.

You may visit the new Gogoro Experience Store at the 2nd level of Greenbelt 3, turn right when you enter through the bridge from Landmark (location of former Globe store).

AutoDeal Releases 13th Insights Report

Getting a car these days are doubly hard and with the war happening in Ukraine, oil prices have skyrocketed in the past few weeks. This shouldn't be the case especially when purchasing a car, wether for business or family use. It should be seamless, and be adept to conditions like this pandemic - as everything should be personalized, so customers get what they need when they need it most.

Top online automotive market place AutoDeal has been in the business since 2014 and has been the go to place to buy, compare cars, and get offers on the latest models on the web. Daniel Scott, AutoDeal CEO and Co-Founder says "As car sales go through digital channels, AutoDeal is getting tons of inquiries per day gearing more sales for our partners even during these times. AutoDeal transactions amount to Php 28 Billion last 2021 from 24,835 transactions, and that's amazing."

They also released consumer reports and insights on the industry from the platform which gives valuable data that can helo it grow on a business and market standpoint. They've been doing it every year and has been analyzed by experts. The 13th edition includes performance metrics as the industry recovers from the troubles of the pandemic. This includes leads that specify location, brand, buying trends which would be helpful for car companies and consumers. This also includes the motorcycle market which has become a pretty significant market. You may visit bit.ly/2021ADInsights and download AutoDeal Insights Volume 8 for it. AutoDeal is currently partnered with 16 car/motorcycle brands and currently holds top spot as far as market sales volume is concerned in the country. You may visit autodeal.com.ph for your car and bike needs and visit their social channels for more information.

ANGKAS Does Rider Re-Training, Pilot Run

DOTR gave them a go signal for pilot run/ operations in Metro Manila and Cebu. Now they are doing a lot of things for the operation of Angkas in Manila.

David Medrano the Angkas Head of Operations “One of the causes of danger in this system is that the rider often doesn’t hold on to the driver. Now the vest has the driver’s ID, two helmets and improvement on the biker app. Both the rider and passenger are given these paraphernalia as if they are new passengers. We share the cost for it, and very easy to pay for, technically subsidized by Angkas. There will be no change in the fare either, it will stay the same even with the additional expenses. We accept high end non modified motorcycles, it will be only for 7 years, we don’t encourage riders to take a trip while it’s raining because it is very dangerous. We really discourage that. There is no denying too that we have riders are getting harassed, by other sectors, we cannot worry about them as much because we prioritize passengers. There are only a few instances, we won’t let that slide if it needs to be addressed.”

George Royeca the Angkas Head of Regulatory and Public Affairs says “Thank you to everyone who came here, we are very happy to tell you that we are retraining our force to make sure all the conditions have been met. They will also be given paraphernalia for passengers, a new vest with a new design for the safety of our riders. It is the duty of rider and driver to always make sure they are safe on the road. If there are new safety measures, it will go to the manufacturers and the law. There will be no modifications, will have bike tests to make sure they are safe on the road. Insurance will be given to the driver and passenger, for death and dismemberment and also claims. Suspension and banning of the platform will be given to erring drivers dependent on the gravity of offense. Our current rider accident rate is 0.003% which came from the number of rides over the accidents met on the road. We wish to bring that down still. The pilot is 27,000 and we had very nice congress support, hopefully we get laws passed including rules and regulation.”

Robert Bolaños Chairman of Motorcycle Rights Organization says “This is the reason why the rider organization is supporting Angkas, because of safety. We also see how they got into the advocacy of safety, training the riders and even the passengers information. Angkas has resources to promote road safety, to share the road, and t doesn’t stop there and perhaps have delivery, messengers to also do this to protect them and the riding public. It is how they think and how they act, we are involved and make people aware that there are strict standards. What they fail to realize is that they will get the same if Angkas passes the standards, for the entire motorcycle industry. These standards puts us on top again, that is the goal.”

Now make sure your Angkas experience would be a good one and see they get trained first before you, the passenger would actually ride one. They are conducting retraining now and equipping their drivers with new vests with new designs and even new helmets. This is part of the TWG, the ones who will make decisions. Hopefully they get less than 5% during this pilot run, so they have bullets to fill their case in congress. Shower caps and face masks can now also be demanded from riders, so if you ride on please do ask for it for hygienic purposes.