By Leony R. Garcia
WHEN buying cars, men like to go fast, while women like to go efficient. According to a survey by TrueCar.com among 8 million US car purchases, men tend to prefer fast and large autos, while women tend to look for value and fuel economy.
TrueCar analyst Jesse Toprak said women car buyers were more cost-conscious and purchased fuel-efficient vehicles while male buyers were completely the opposite, purchasing vehicles that were either big and brawny, like a large truck, or choosing a high-priced, high-performance vehicle.
On the home front, Elena Mari Ginia R. Domingo said men have more brand loyalty than women. Men look at the size of the wheels, the speakers (“Maganda ba ang sounds?”), the engine and its power, the air-con, etc. While women check if the seats are comfortable for their children—like if the seat can be folded to put a crib or stroller in there; or if it could carry groceries and other household purchases. To women, a car is more about function, katulong sa buhay. The brand is secondary to them, she added. Domingo knows this well, having been in the automobile sales industry for years.
More popularly known as Ginia, Domingo is president of Columbian Autocar Corp. (CAC), the assembler and exclusive distributor of Kia vehicles in the Philippines.
“People’s Car”–the Kia Pride
ONE of the fastest-growing automotive brands in the Philippines, Kia’s engineered cars are among the best manufactured vehicles today, incorporating the latest engineering techniques in the design and production of its vehicles.
In 1996 CAC found itself in the No. 4 spot in the Philippine automobile market, having participated in the government’s Car Development Program and introduced the first-ever “People’s Car”—the Kia Pride—that generated tremendous and favorable reviews in the market.
To date, CAC has 32 dealerships and 10 sales outlets nationwide. Its wide dealer network assures unrivaled after-sales customer service and satisfaction designed after its philosophy called “Family-like Care.”
In June 2009 CAC achieved the unprecedented by extending the warranty protection of its manufactured vehicles to five years or 160,000 kilometers (km) or whichever comes first. The offer is far from the usual three years or 110,000 km, making its auto-protection coverage the best and the longest in the auto industry.
By standing behind its products for a longer period of time, Kia not only breached the industry standard but also reinforced its claim that its vehicles are as good, if not better, as any available in the market today.
CAC also introduced Kia’s 24/7 Customer Assistance on Roadside Emergency in 2012. It is a 24-hour vehicle-support program exclusively for Kia customers that offers assistance, such a flat-tire change, emergency towing, battery jump-start and fuel-delivery service. In its continuous pursuit of excellence, CAC received Kia Motor’s Elite Zenith Club distinction for three consecutive years since 2007, thereby establishing itself as Kia’s foremost distributor in the Asia-Pacific region. CAC was given worldwide recognition, and was named the 2011 Distributor of the Year for the Asia-Pacific Region for the highest degree of professionalism and best overall sales performance achievement.
From office worker to automotive executive
DOMINGO is one of only a handful of women who currently lead a local automotive company.
After more than 20 years of operations experience with various global automotive brands in the areas of general management, marketing, sales and finance, she has amassed a wealth of knowledge enough to drive and steer CAC forward in its efforts to reach out to a bigger and more diverse target market.
Thus, since her appointment in 2011, Domingo has helped Kia exceed its growth expectations with global supply, struggling to keep up with actual demand. Industry players know that Domingo did it by practicing a management style that is fresh and exciting, yet meticulous at the same time. Moreover, her unyielding efforts to further build the brand through the improvement of CAC’s sales supply, the strengthening of its dealer network and the enhancement of its after-sales support and customer relations have established a new order for the Korean brand in the Philippines.
Domingo has reached a career high with CAC. At a very young age, she already knew that she wanted to become successful someday. “I believe I was 8 years old then. Life was tough growing up and I knew then that education was the only way to make good and be successful,” she said.
She said she witnessed how her father, Ramon Roxas, worked hard as a school-bus driver in San Beda College and got promoted to several positions until he finally retired as a liaison officer of the college.
Her mother, the former Virginia Vidal, was a schoolteacher in Bicol who decided to work at the Insurance Commission in Manila later. To be promoted to a higher post, she went to night school at the Lyceum, and finished a degree in BSC Accounting. Domingo said she was already in grade school when her mother graduated and became qualified to be a supervisor.
She was 25, Domingo said, when she decided to make a career shift from being a financial analyst to selling cars. At 25 and at the peak of her career as a single woman, she found “a knack” for sales and started in her journey in the automobile industry as a sales agent.
“I vividly remember my new boss asking: ‘How do you see yourself five years from now?’ I was 25 years old then and my reply was, ‘I see myself married, with kids and with a thriving career.’ You can say that it was a very general [even safe] statement but it was really true. I wanted to start my own family first before I work on advancing my career. I must’ve been a good daughter because the Lord granted me that path,” Domingo said. In five years, after the career shift, Domingo was promoted as sales manager. And the rest, as they say, is history.
But prior to her current post at CAC, her husband, Raymond, passed away in 2004. Since then, Domingo has become both mother and father to her two sons—Ramon Manuel, a literature graduate from Ateneo de Manila; and Francis Roy, a graduating student also in the same school, taking up communications. She is thankful that her sons have not given her any cause for concern.
“My family is my success. Raising two wonderful sons as a single parent for the past 11 years while working on a career is a blessing. As for my career, it’s still a work in progress,” she said.
Domingo’s word of wisdom is for the millenial to heed the advice of their elders. “Listen to your parents. The times may be different, but the learnings are the same,” she said.
Does she consider today’s young people equally good or better than her generation?
It’s a tough question, she said. She said times were very different then compared to now. She explained: “I would say, though, that the environment is a lot more competitive now but the opportunities are endless.
“Given that, the millennial will have to be equally as good, if not better, and more hardworking than we were back then when the environment was already competitive but with limited opportunities.”
“You are only as good as you allow yourself to become, so never stop learning,” she said.