Nissan restarts plant, dealership operations

MANILA: Nissan has reopened its dealerships and production facilities in the Philippines and in other Asian countries.

Last May 29, Nissan announced the resumption of operations at  Plant 2 beginning June 1, and vehicle production will continue at Plant 1 in Samut Prakan, Thailand. Some modifications involving operations like stamping and engine assembly were also made.

Most of the car parts and accessories of Nissan vehicles sold in the Philippines come from Thailand. Moreover, similar to its Southeast Asian neighbor, the Philippines has imposed a series of community quarantine measures nationwide to help mitigate the coronavirus (COVID-19) pandemic, and these have dramatically affected the production of vehicles and dealer operations for more than two months.

Since the earlier part of May, Nissan dealerships in the Philippines have also set forth health and safety guidelines for its valued customers and employees upon reopening of dealer outlets under the “new normal” of business operations.

These health and safety guidelines are implemented at service centers and showrooms in the country. Measures include consistent sanitization of high-contact vehicle areas such as the front console panels, door handles, seats, gear shift, and steering wheel; placing alcohol gel on all premises of the facility; making sure that customers and employees wear face masks daily; temperature scanning on all customers and employees entering the dealership; and thorough disinfection of the service center every 30 minutes.

Nissan continues to comply with the government in terms of having limited capacity for the number of employees going to the facilities and dealer outlets of the auto company. Some of the office employees are in a work-from-home arrangement, in line with the more extensive effort to minimize the spread and the impact of COVID-19.

The auto company also rolled out the “Care for You” relief program recently for supporting its customers and making sure that their safety is highly prioritized during the current pandemic. This relief program aims to provide current and future customers with vehicle pickup services, convenient and safe vehicle test drive options, and promos and deals at service centers and dealers.

Furthermore, Nissan Finance, in collaboration with EastWest Bank, has provided payment extensions to all its customers whose due dates were within the period of the enhanced community quarantine (ECQ). Now that the ECQ has been lifted in the National Capital Region (NCR) and its nearby provinces, payment due dates will resume and only one amortization shall be paid monthly.

Photo from Nissan

Also read: MECQ, GCQ-area dealerships open for Nissan PH