In the last year and a half, news about Geely in the Philippines hasn’t been good.

The brand -arguably one of the most reputable Chinese marques in the Philippines- was in the process of being handed over to a Geely-owned subsidiary. And while this was happening, there were a lot of internal problems that needed sorting while aftersales issues were blowing up on social media. It was not a good look, and definitely set the stage for other Chinese brands to make their presence felt like Chery, MG, Changan, Jetour, GAC and most definitely BYD.

Now there’s a new company at the helm, and with a new management team that paid us a visit at our office. They’re led by Mr. Will Wan; he is currently Geely’s Asia Pacific Business Unit Director, but he will concurrently be the president of Geely Motor Philippines Corporation (GMPC).

Mr. Will says they had encountered some unforeseen challenges at the start, but now that they’ve set up they’re ready to get to work.

GMPC will start with parts. Earlier today, they sent us some information and photos of their new parts warehouse in Cabuyao. Parts have been a problem for Geely’s previous distributor, and the new one will not let that happen to them. After all, it’s Geely’s name on the door.

Second will be aftersales, and that means they will work closely with dealers and improve that relationship. That’s another key factor they need to address, and it seems to be working well. Despite the problems encountered, GMP’s president says not too many dealers closed during the challenging period after their predecessor closed, and the new one started. They still have about 40 dealers nationwide.

That's really the priority: they're rebuilding the back end. Once they're satisfied, then they'll be revamping the model range. Will Wan did not give specifics even though we kept pressing him if or when they would launch models like Monjaro and the new Okavango. What GMPC will do is focus on launching the updated versions of the existing lineup, as well as launch one major new nameplate. As to what, we can only guess. We'll keep our fingers crossed it's the Monjaro, or even the Panda Mini EV.

As for electrified models, Will Wan says they’re still evaluating which exact ones and types (hybrid and BEV), but they will be launching models that will have those technologies in the future. It just depends on what customers are leaning towards, so they will have a lot of studying and research in the market to do.

It's really important that the new Geely gets off on the right foot. The momentum of the brand completely fizzled out, and it’s up to Will Wan and the rest of his team to bring the brand back to where it should be. Needless to say, 2025 will be an interesting one for the local automotive market now that Geely wants to get going.