Larger than the business

How the Covid-19 pandemic has affected auto industry leaders

By Steven Tan, President and CEO Mazda Philippines

“These are the 5 things that became most important to me during the pandemic, which is still with us, and is likely to be with us for some time.

1. Take care of your employees. They are important to their families. Keep them as safe as you possibly can. None of our employees have had to commute in the public transport system since the pandemic.

2. Work closely with your business partners. Our dealer partners, logistics partners, suppliers and contractors are fully co-dependent on each other. None of us can survive and prosper without trusting and relying on each other.

3. Understand customer anxiety and show them you are there for them. We reinforce our customer service resources and channels like social media and email to respond faster to the increased traffic, and to channel the support to the dealerships to provide the necessary support like spare parts and technical information. During the pandemic, in April 2020, we extended the standard free service plan across the entire Mazda product range, from 3 years to 5 years, the highest free service-year plan in the industry.

4. Care for something else larger than the business. Between April and May 2020, we raised private funding to cook and deliver home meals to 6,000 hospital frontliners throughout Metro Manila. In November 2020, we launched the BT50 Pangolin Edition to raise awareness for the plight of the endangered Palawan Pangolin, a pangolin species endemic to the Philippines. We sent a BT50 pickup truck to Katala Foundation, a non-profit NGO based in Palawan, to support their work in the protection of the Palawan pangolins. In Sept 2021, we became Shell Pilipinas’ 1st Carbon Neutral Partner Fleet Carbon Offset Program for our company fleet, to achieve carbon neutral emission in our use of our company fleet. Our Cabuyao facility, Mazda Center of Excellence, is on its way soon to achieve net zero status on renewable energy and water use, with full dependence on solar energy and rainwater harvesting. Striving for greater sustainability is no longer an option.