The Department of Trade and Industry (DTI) said the implementation of the Comprehensive Automotive Resurgence Strategy (CARS) has saved $1 billion in foreign exchange through local sourcing of parts and components instead of importation.
DTI Undersecretary Rafaelita Aldaba in a forum hosted by Stratbase-ADR Institute yesterday also said the localization of the two participants in CARS, Toyota Motor Philippines Corp. for Vios and Mitsubishi Motor Philippines Corp. for Mirage, has doubled to 42 percent from 20 percent since the program was launched in 2016.
Mitsubishi and Toyota have a combined registered investments of P9.3 billion under the program. Mitsubishi has a registered capacity of 200,000 units, while Toyota has 230,000 units.
According to Aldaba, apart from existing buyers, suppliers, the program registered and supported a total of nine new parts makers and created a total of 5,751 direct employment.This generated additional 17,368 employment in parts making and 86,840 anxiliary jobs.
Government revenues generated as of December 2021 reached P18.77 billion, Aldaba said.
“CARS represents a modern industrial policy centered on performance based and time bound incentives. We started implementing the program in 2016 to jumpstart auto manufacturing, to stimulate investments in manufacturing, generating quality jobs, create a competitive industry, and our aspiration of course, is to become a regional hub in the future,” Aldaba said.
The program gave a temporary fiscal support of P45,000 per unit of vehicle manufactured.
“The program helped in closing the competitiveness gap and kickstarted vehicle development in the country,” Aldaba said. – Irma Isip
