L-R: Mr. Erwin Locsin (General Manager, Volkswagen BGC), Mr. JP Orbeta (President, Automobile Central Enterprise, Inc.), Mr. Fernando Zobel de Ayala (President & COO, Ayala Corporation), Hon. Mayor Lani Cayetano (City of Taguig), Mr. Jaime Augusto Zobel de Ayala (Chairman and CEO, Ayala Corporation)

Iconic Dealership, Inc., formally opened its flagship showroom—Volkswagen BGC with no less than Ayala Corporation President and COO, Mr. Fernando Zobel de Ayala and Volkswagen official distributor, Automobile Central Enterprise, Inc. (ACEI) President and CEO, Mr. John Philip Orbeta leading the ceremonial inauguration. Also in attendance was Ayala Corporation and CEO Mr. Jaime Augusto Zobel de Ayala and Taguig City Major Ms. Lani Cayetano.

The sprawling Volkswagen BGC is located in the heart of Bonifacio Global City—Manila’s new “it” place. The 6,000 square-meter showroom features 5 floors and enough space to accommodate 18 vehicles in the showroom. It also has 10 service bays for quick service such as periodic maintenance service (heavy jobs such as body and paint will be done in Volkswagen’s 2,200 square-meter Greenfield Service Center along Sheridan Street in Mandaluyong City).

Aside from the sheer size, Volkswagen BGC builds on the brand’s green credentials and goes paperless thanks to the use of the Volkswagen Interactive Showroom application, a unique platform developed by Linked Tech Solutions of Hong Kong. Volkswagen BGC is only the second Volkswagen dealership in the world to use this new technology after Hong Kong introduced it in November 2013.

The Volkswagen Interactive Showroom uses unique tools called the V Table and V Tablets to help sales consultants in dealing with prospective customers. 4 V Tables scattered in Volkswagen BGC allow customers to browse through the latest car models, features, and specifications. It also uses RFID technology to learn more about Volkswagen’s history and products. Meanwhile, the V Tablets are several units of Apple iPad Airs loaded with various product information such as specifications, photo gallery, and videos. The V Tablets can also help sales consultants in computing for financing options as well as book test drives. The V Tablets can also be used by sales consultants for field calls.

The Volkswagen BGC is located at 28th Street City Center Bonifacio Global City. Showroom hours are Mondays to Thursday 8am to 6pm. Fridays and Saturdays 8am to 7pm, and Sundays 9am to 6pm.

During his speech, Mr. Orbeta also outlined Volkswagen’s 2014 expansion plans. They are expected to complete 3 more showrooms by the end of 2014: Quezon City, Alabang, and Cebu. The last of which will start groundbreaking by next week. In addition, new products powered by gasoline engines such as the Volkswagen Beetle, Touran, and Tiguan will finally arrive. The Tiguan will carry Volkswagen’s fuel conservation technology, Blue Motion.

In commemoration of Volkswagen BGC’s opening, Mr. Orbeta also announced that the Volkswagen Polo Notch will have a special introductory price of P 888,000 while the Jetta 2.0 TDI goes for P 1,098,000. This is a savings of P 62,000 and P 197,000 respectively. This echoes the limited time P 100,000 discount given to the first 100 customers when Volkswagen first launched last year.