President Duterte is set to issue an executive order extending the Comprehensive Automotive Resurgence Strategy (CARS) to give the two participants time to comply with the production requirement of the incentive scheme.
Ceferino Rodolfo, Board of Investments managing head said 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.
The EO will also not change volume requirement of 200,000 units each participant in duration of the program.
Rodolfo said the EO 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 of the two current participants Toyota Motor Philippines Corp. (TMP) and Mitsubishi Motor Philippines Corp. (MMPC) have availed of any fiscal support but both have frontloaded investments for their enrolled models, Vios and Mirage, respectively.
He added 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 by TMP and MMPC.
“We do understand the challenging unforeseen circumstances including the impact of the pandemic on automotive demand,” Rodolfo said. – Irma Isip
