OVER two million vehicles. That is how many sedans, vans, SUVs, and hatchbacks Toyota Motor Philippines Corporation (TMP) has sold in the Philippines since it started making and selling cars in the country in 1988.
Over two million is about right because Toyota the brand has been around before 1988. The first Toyota formally imported into the country was a Crown, brought in directly from Japan by a scion of a textile company. In 1957, the Philippines received two dozen Toyota fire trucks as promised war compensation from the Japanese government. By 1960, the importer, Silverio-owned Delta Motors Corporation was selling about 100 units of Toyotas a month, including the Toyopet Corona and the Tiara. Then, Philippine roads were full of American gas guzzlers, and the tiny Toyotas made a lot of sense to the emerging Filipino middle class.
In 1962, Toyota Motor Company shook hands with Delta Motor Corporation and started assembling the Tiara locally by 1967. Assembly was done in a small facility in the Pasong Tamo extension, but by 1971, a new assembly plant operation in Parañaque was opened. One year later, Toyota achieved No. 1 market share–in an auto industry that sold less than 100,000 cars a year and was divided among 15 or so American, British, Italian, French, and Japanese car brands.
The Delta Motor-Toyota tandem launched market leaders and innovative vehicles like the Toyota Corolla-based Tamaraw Asian Utility Vehicle (AUV) and the Mini-Cruiser which is a for-military-use vehicle endemic to the country.
Delta Motors dissolved after Marcos cronies tried to take over operations, and in 1984 Toyota exited the country for a while. After the 1986 People’s Power Revolt took out Marcos, Toyota was once again eager to enter the Philippines as the country was a launch point for vehicles in the ASEAN region. In the years that followed Toyota Japan send feelers to study the market, and an economy recuperating from two decades of martial rule. When the smoke cleared, Toyota Motor Philippines Corporation was established in 1988 and released its first comeback car, the “small body” Corolla on October 10, 1989. This was followed by the iconic people mover, the LiteAce.
Metrobank’s Dr. George SK Ty who also leads GT Capital Holdings established TMP through a strong partnership with Japan’s Toyota Motor Corporation, and Mitsui & Co., LTD. Over the past 34 years, TMP has grown to be one of the top corporations in the country.
It was a successful uphill run for Toyota ever since. In 1997 it moved to its present manufacturing site in Sta. Rosa, Laguna eventually shutting down the Parañaque facility. By then the new Tamaraw called the Revo, the LiteAce, Crown, and Corona continued to come out from the assembly lines. In 2007, the company sold a total of 500,000 vehicles, and in 2015 doubled that number. The Sta. Rosa plant is still the largest car manufacturing and assembly plant in the country producing the Vios and Innova models.
Since the start of its operations, TMP’s manufacturing plant has assembled 958,000 completely knocked-down (CKD) units. Today it sells over 35,000 Vios annually, the most of any passenger car, and more than 13,000 Innovas. Early this year Toyota Motor Philippines already hinted it would surpass the two million mark.
“Surpassing the two million mark would not be possible without the support of our loyal Toyota and Lexus customers, the commitment of our 73-strong Toyota dealer network, and of course the sense of ownership that every TMP team member has to our goal and responsibility of providing mobility for all. Thank you for making Philippines a Toyota country,” TMP President Atsuhiro Okamoto said.
Toyota innovated in areas not explored by car makers. It began the small SUV craze with the RAV-4 two-door, started hybrid electrification with the the Prius introduced in 2009. It also brought in its own financing company Toyota Financing Services bringing in new financing concepts like balloon payments and leasing.
TMP is one of the key manufacturers and distributors of Toyota in the Asia Pacific region, making Toyota the leading car brand in the Philippines for decades, with a market share reaching 46.3 percent by end of 2021. This yearend market share is TMP’s highest in its history, and the highest in the ASEAN region. Its operations also contribute to the advancement of automotive manufacturing in the country and provide a livelihood to over 60,000 employees in the entire value chain. It has also played a role as a strong pillar of the economy, with the Toyota group having invested a cumulative amount of P67B, and achieving export sales of $16.3 B as of 2020.
“I would like to express my heartfelt gratitude to the generations of Toyota owners in the Philippines who have trusted and embraced the Toyota brand since TMP opened more than three decades ago,” Alfred Ty, Chairman of TMP shared.
Contributing to this preference of Filipinos to Toyota cars is the company’s promise of Quality, Durability, and Reliability (QDR). But as both the market and customers’ requirements evolve, Okamoto said TMP is committed to lead in transforming the mobility landscape with a people-first approach.
“More than just selling cars, TMP is all about addressing people’s mobility needs. Through the years, we have been placing greater importance in improving customer service, value-chain offers, and overall Toyota ownership experience. We are assuring our customers that we are with them at every step of their customer journey, providing them flexibility, connectivity, convenience – all with the goal of producing mass happiness for all,” Okamoto declared.
Chairman Ty added that TMP’s reaching of its 2 million sales milestone also comes at the right time when it’s in the middle of its brand transformation initiative.
“We are looking forward to a more exciting and promising future for our customers as we introduce more ways to move their world,” Ty concluded.
