Participants to the Comprehensive Automotive Resurgence Strategy (CARS) need to catch up and sell 50,000 units annually of their enrolled models in the remaining five years of the extended program.
Ceferino Rodolfo, managing head of the Board of Investments (BOI) in a press briefing said Toyota Motor Philippines Corp. (TMP) still needs to produce and sell 128,000 units of the Vios while Mitsubishi Motor Philippines Corp. (MMPC) has 143,000 units more to fill in the required volume.
MMPC has so far sold 57,000 units of Mirage from 2017 to 2020 while TMP sold 72,000 in the same period.
At this rate, even Vios, the country’s bestselling car has to step up its sales.
In the past 18 years, Vios sold 340,000 units – an average of 18,000 units per year.
In 2019, about 13,000 units of Vios were sold.
Rodolfo said based on their initial discussions TMP and MMPC have expressed confidence they will be able to hit the 200,000 units volume requirement for the nine-year program to avail of the incentives.
Rodolfo said this also augurs well for the industry as Vios and Mirage have high local content and their production generates employment.
The Vios and Mirage are among the 8 remaining t models now being produced locally.
The imposition of provisional duties on imported sedans and light commercial vehicles is seen to result to shift in demand for locally-produced vehicles.
The inter-agency technical committee on CARS had recommended a three-year extension of the program from six years with no additional budget that has been pegged at P27 billion for the duration of the scheme.
An executive order is set to be issued by end May or towards June.
With the extension, the compliance and provision of fiscal support would now be up to 2025 with 2017 as reckoning.
Rodolfo said neither TMP nor MMPC has availed of any fiscal support but both have frontloaded investments for their enrolled models.
Any additional investments to be made by the two for the new model change or enhancements of Vios and Mirage would be counted as compliance. – Irma Isip
