AFTER the government鈥檚 strict regulation of importing surplus units, the Norkis Group of Companies decided to shift from marketing surplus vehicles to brand new four-wheel vehicles.
Florante A. Casas, Norkis Group of Companies manager聽 for Visayas and Mindanao, said the company decided to focus on聽 brand new vehicles聽 because it couldn鈥檛 compete with lower-priced surplus units in the market.
Lucky Cab was introduced as Norkis鈥� new four-wheel cabs with a target of selling 300 units by year鈥檚 end.
Norkis聽 recently phased out its surplus line of Legacy聽 cabs. but Casas聽 assured that the firm would continue to give service support for those who bought the vehicles.
鈥淔or our Multicabs, we still continue to produce and market them but it is not that competitive because, despite the regulation, we still see numerous sellers of聽 multicabs at really cheaper prices,鈥� he said.
Norkis reduced聽 production of Multicabs聽 from 100 units per month to聽 60 units.
鈥淣ow we only assemble the multicabs and our motorcycles in our plant in Compostela,鈥� he said.
Casas said he was confident of marketing Norkis new line of vehicles because they are聽 the first聽 four-wheel drive cabs in the country today with a 1.8 engine that runs on diesel.
鈥淲ith the rising cost for the gasoline, we see a huge demand for diesel-powered vehicles like our Lucky Cab,鈥� he said.
The Lucky Cab comes in three models, the regular pickup truck, the FB Supreme with a a full聽 body van, and the Commuter Deluxe聽 for those who wants to use them as聽 jeepney units.
The prices are also 30 percent to 40 percent lower than other major brands.
鈥淏ecause these are brand new units, they arrive here as CBUs or Complete Built-in Units and we provide full service and parts support,鈥� Casas said.
The units were tested for ayear聽 before they were introduced in the聽 market.
鈥淲e started introducing the brand in July 10. So far we have already sold at least 20 percent of our target 300 units,鈥� he said.
Meanwhile, motorcycle brands Haojue and Sunriser聽 continued to show increasing sales since it was introduced last year.
鈥淭he whole motorcycle industry has grown on an average of at least 10 per cent yearly because of聽 increased demand brought about by higher聽 fuel prices. We expect to perform well in this segment,鈥� Casas said.
He said people were now looking at fuel-efficiency when they buy motor vehicles.