Meet the new ‘Pride of the pack’
In 2006, renowned Volkswagen and Audi designer Peter Schreyer (one of those credited with the iconic look of the Audi TT) announced he would become the chief design officer for Kia worldwide. This would signal one of the most pivotal and transformative moments in Kia’s history—the catalyst that initiated the brand’s evolution from a budget-oriented manufacturer into a globally respected, design-led powerhouse.
That year, a certain Jay Lopez was a senior product manager for Wyeth Philippines Inc. The critical goings-on at the Korean carmaker was probably the furthest from his mind. The only intersection would have been when Jay once owned and drove a Kia Pride, his first car.
Now, 19 years later, the man and the car brand meet once again. But this time, Jay will be steering the brand, not just the car.
On a rainy Aug. 6, Mr Lopez was introduced to members of the motoring media at a restaurant in Bonifacio Global City in Taguig as Kia Philippines’ new managing director.
Casual conversations shifted between careers and cars. He was introduced as someone who has had extensive experience in sales and marketing in pharmaceuticals, nutritional, consumer health, and agricultural industries here and in Southeast Asian markets since 2000.
Jay was product manager for Sanofi from 2000 to 2004. From his stint in Wyeth from 2004 to 2008, Jay was Bayer Country Healthcare representative and general manager in the Philippines from 2011 to 2015, then Bayer Jakarta Indonesia’s general manager and executive director from 2015 to 2017. As Bayer GM in the Philippines, he directed its Consumer Care to become the fastest growing over-the-counter drug company for three years. In 2019-2020, Jay was Abbott country manager.
From 2020 to 2024, Jay took his talents to the agribusiness when he became general manager of East-West Seed, one of the world’s leading vegetable seed companies, and whose mission includes providing innovative products and services to improve the livelihood of vegetable farmers.
Jay’s out-of-the-blue career shift led him to our lunch table that day, and he was very much at home discussing the nuances of the vegetable business in the Philippines. He shared that the most consumed vegetable in the country is the lowly eggplant, and that the next most consumed veggies are all the ingredients in a dish of pinakbet.
So, why did he jump onboard Kia?
Maybe AC Mobility/Kia Philippines wants to try something out of the box in its sales and marketing strategies. Kia is already among the Top 10 automotive players in the country as of the first half of the year. Perhaps Jay, who’s been very adept at handling FMCGs (fast-moving consumer goods) for nearly three decades, can take Team Kia PH to the next level.
It’s certainly full circle for Jay, who recalled that his first car was a Kia Pride, that iconic humble hatchback known to be one of the sturdiest subcompact cars in the Philippines. When Jay mentioned Kia Pride, almost all of us in the room could relate, and that’s not to betray our ages by revealing that nearly all of us there already had driver’s licenses in the ‘90s, but the stories passed down through the years tell of this indestructible model. “Hindi masira-sira,” an officemate once told me of her Pride.
The Pride was instrumental in transitioning the South Korean company from a domestic manufacturer to a formidable international brand. In the Philippines, the Pride’s arrival in 1990, under the distributorship of Columbian Autocar Corp, was nothing short of revolutionary. Marketed as the “People’s Car,” it entered a market dominated by more expensive Japanese brands. The Pride’s affordability made car ownership a reality for a wider segment of the Filipino population, particularly during the challenging economic times of the Asian financial crisis.
So, is Jay’s joining the Kia Philippines’ family the signal that the carmaker will also tap its roots and introduce the next bestselling mass market car? We’ll have to wait for how the new managing director serves up his surprises.
