Jeepney shop turns to car assembly

Jeepney shop turns to car assembly

By Ramoncito dela Cruz

MANILA (Reuter): The Filipino jeepney, admired by visitors but
more often cursed by Manila motorists, has taken Fernando
Francisco a long way.

Francisco started out painting the distinctive mini-buses just
after World War II with his older brother Anastacio.

Now he heads the country's only 100 percent Filipino-owned
vehicle assembly company and is cashing in on the boom in car
ownership as the Philippine economy grows.

Fernando, then 18, and Anastacio, 31, set up a paint shop in
suburban Manila, using the body of converted U.S. army surplus
jeeps as their canvases.

Jeepneys, still using the same design, are the most widely
used form of public transport in the Philippines. Admired by
visitors for their garish decoration, they are more often reviled
by Manila motorists as a major contributor to the capital's
nightmarish traffic.

Before the war, the two brothers used to hand-paint horse-
drawn carriages.

Fernando, who took the helm of Francisco Motor Corp. after
Anastacio died in 1984, said the small jeepney shop turned to
autobody building and jeep assembly in less than five years.

"The business quickly expanded due to huge turnover," he said
in an interview.

The company, which started with capital of just 200 pesos (now
about US$7.70), in 1994 boasted total sales of 939 million pesos
($36.12 million).

It employs more than 1,000 workers in two assembly plants.
The brothers formed a tie-up in 1955 with Luneta Motor Co., the
local distributor of British-made Fords and Thames trucks, to
market Francisco jeepneys nationwide.

"They saw the potential of the jeepneys. Aside from cars that
they distributed, they also distributed jeepneys all over the
country," Fernando said.

Assembling

Because of this tie-up, Francisco also began to assemble
British Ford Consuls and Thames light trucks.

In the mid-1960s, Isuzu Motors Ltd. appointed Francisco as its
franchised assembler and distributor.

"With the Isuzu engines, we decided to depart from assembling
jeepneys with reconditioned engines, but with brand new engines,"
Francisco said.

The jeepneys with the Isuzu engines outsold other brands but
Francisco later relinquished its Isuzu franchise in favor of
Mazda Motor Corp.

By then, it started to produce Asian Utility Vehicles using
Mazda 1200 cc engines.

Francisco introduced its own "Pinoy" brand in 1975 and "Anfra"
in 1989.

Jeepney production took a back seat in the 1980s as small
assemblers using reconditioned engines sprouted up and started to
eat into Francisco's market. The economic turmoil of the mid-
1980s also made buyers less discriminating.

Fernando sees jeepney demand continuing but says Francisco is
now concentrating light trucks and cars.

The company still assembles the occasional jeepney, often for
foreign buyers smitten by the colorful vehicles. But its main
focus is on its joint venture agreements with Fiat Spa, Mazda
Motor Corp. and Hyundai Motor Co. Ltd. to assemble their vehicles
for the local market.

In another one-off custom job, it also assembled the bullet-
proof vehicle used by Pope John Paul II when he visited the
country in January.

While Fernando sees continuing growth in car and truck
assembly in the Philippines, he is less optimistic about the
early prospects for a Filipino-designed and manufactured car.

"We are not yet ready," he said. "It may take 25 years before
one can become an independent manufacturer."