Motoring Today Column

Jan 05, 2022

The year 2021 certainly proved to be a rollercoaster ride for the auto industry and motorists.

But while still in the throes of an unpredictable Covid-19 pandemic, 2021 showed how a resilient local auto industry helped provide people hope and optimism that things will get better.

One can also look it the other way. The year just past showed how a resilient people helped the local automotive industry overcome the difficulties of the economic slowdown caused by the pandemic.

Vehicle sales picked up in virtually all categories. Passenger car sales rose. Commercial vehicle sales can even be said to be have enjoyed a boom.

Although it must be said that the numbers of 2020 were low enough that they were easy to surpass in 2021.

Like in 2020, the auto industry found more creative and innovative ways to market their products, mostly in virtual settings.

But many industry players, old and new, also expanded their network of brick and mortar dealerships, or should we say glass, metal, and cement showrooms and service centers.

Meanwhile, people learned to live with the pandemic, maintaining livelihoods, or innovating new ways of earning a living.

Some even made vehicles part of their new livelihood. For deliveries. Or even as platform for sales. Many selling coffee, snacks or refreshments from the back of pickups, cars, and vans.

Industries also learned from the first year of the pandemic to operate even better in the second year of the contagion.

This is reflected in a resurgence in sales of buses, trucks and cargo haulers. Door-to-door delivery was the key.

As authorities began to ease restrictions on travelling and allowed more trades and services to resume operations, including tourist places, demand for vehicles picked up.

So 2021 can also be said to be an exciting year for the auto industry - and for auto enthusiasts as well - as more new models and marques were introduced, bringing with them the latest in technologies for powertrains, driver assist and safety, comfort and convenience, and smart connectivity.

If 2020 was all about survival - of individual companies, the industry, communities and the economy - then 2021 was all about recovery and setting the stage for a return to health of individuals, people's livelihoods, companies, and the economy.

This the automotive industry seems to have been successful in doing - driving sales, improving services, expanding networks of dealerships, offering more and better automotive products.

All this amid stiff competition between and among auto makers and distributors, dealerships, brands.

We are certainly not out of the Covid-19 forest yet. Vaccination has helped. And more and more people are learning to be responsible about complying with health protocols.

Automotive companies, like all other sectors of the economy and all kinds of service providers now being allowed to reopen, are learning how to safely operate while the contagion is still out there.

But new mutations seem to be coming out as fast as model upgrades and upgrades. So there remain uncertainties as the automotive industry- as well as other trades and business-continues the stage for full recovery this year or the next year.

One thing is certain though, the pandemic has not stopped automotive companies from offering better, safer, more reliable, and fun vehicles to meet all kinds of need, wants, and budgets of individuals and families.

Or provide good and accessible services to make vehicle ownership all the more satisfactory and enjoyable.

For that we should all be grateful for what the automotive industry provided in 2021 while looking forward to a more productive, healthy and freer 2022.

Motoring Forward

On the motoring front, 2021 was the second year of motorists and commuters alike learning to live under restrictions forced upon everyone by the Covid-19 pandemic.

The pandemic certainly influenced our priorities and shaped government policies and programs that relate to private motoring and mass transport.

The importance of both was highlighted by their lack in the first year of the pandemic--private motoring restricted and public transport suspended.

The year just past saw the return of private motoring as restrictions were eased to open up the economy. It also saw the return of the perennial problems associated with motoring and mass transport.

The provision of safe and efficient mass transportation became even more of a priority in 2021 -with authorities fast-tracking programs and plans to modernize public transport, as well as helping drivers and operators survive the pandemic.

Infrastructure that serve both private motoring and public transport was also a priority.

But it also was up to us motorists and commuters alike to learn to live with the virus that seem to develop new and more infectious mutations.

Government, the private sector, and the public itself were all did their part to help communities, the economy, and the nation survive and overcome the pandemic.

People and communities learned to find safer, more efficient and healthier ways to move around and earn livelihoods.

Like what happened in 2020 when Covid first reached our shores, government agencies- more often than not in partnership with the private sector - looked to find opportunities for growth and development amid the lockdowns.

Many of the projects fast-tracked during the lockdowns, modernization programs pushed through amid quarantines of 2020 began to show benefits in 2021.

Much was also accomplished or started in 2021- more digitalization of processes, more modern infrastructure projects, more bike lanes, the promised EDSA Busway concourses breaking ground, the coming of a more extensive modern, integrated intemodal mass transport networks, the subway, the return of the Bicol express, etc.

All this gives us optimism for a better year ahead. Things will and are getting better.

On that note of optimism, we look forward to a New Year of More Efficient, Safer, Comfortable Commute, and a Happier Motoring.

Happy Motoring!!!

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