Chester T. Dean 
INDIAN car rental company Zoomcar announced on Tuesday that it will soon enter the Philippine market.
Zoomcar will “soon launch” its operations in the Philippines, the company said in an emailed statement.
The India-based company has appointed Gene Angelo P. Ferrer as Vice President and Country Head for the Philippines.
“In the context of COVID-19 (2019 coronavirus disease), there’s a lot of inherent tailwinds, which really helps us to capture more of the mindset of consumers and gain market share. People want to go out and travel and they want to be social again, â€said Greg Moran, CEO and co-founder of Zoomcar.
“The Philippines has low levels of vehicle ownership but a large and upwardly mobile population, and this is the perfect opportunity for us to take advantage as there is simply no accessibility to vehicles and the affordability is a huge constraint, â€he added.
The Philippines, the company said, would serve as a model for its future expansion to other countries in Southeast Asia.
Zoomcar was launched in India in 2013. The platform allows users to rent cars by the hour, day, week or month.
“What I look forward to the most is to see how Zoomcar can uplift the Filipino people through our proposal to establish a secondary source of income without sacrificing their existing day jobs,” Ferrer said. – Arjay L. Balinbin
