Support the Local Auto Industry

[jpdm]

Mitsubishi wants to locally assemble Montero model

By Czeriza Valencia
(The Philippine Star)
Updated May 23, 2012

BANGKOK, Thailand — Mitsubishi Motors Philippines Corp. (MMPC) has sought permission from its Japan-based parent from Mitsubishi Moors Corp. (MMC) for the right to assemble the Montero Sport model in the Philippines to maximize the utilization rate of its production facility in Cainta, Rizal.

“Up to now, it is not yet fully-formed but we are applying for a volume model that we can produce in the Philippines,” said Mitsubishi Philippines vice president for marketing services Froilan Dytianquin.

The manufacturing facility of MMPC in Cainta, Rizal is capable of producing 40,000 to 60,000 units annually but is only producing around 14,000 units per year. Assembled in the plant are the Adventure, L300, and Lancer EX.

“The Adventure and L300 have been there for quite some time and we still do not have the succession models for these. The Lancer is practically a new model but unfortunately, the C segment is not so big,” Dytianquin said.

“The reason also why we are applying for this is that Thailand is saving the capacity so we are also raising our hands to consider the Philippines for the assembly of the Montero Sport. We have the capacity for it. But this will, of course, entail more feasibility study on the part of MMC,” he said.

For now, all Montero Sport models sold in the Philippines come from Thailand.

MMPC currently sells around 1,000 units of the Montero Sport every month, accounting for roughly a third of its average monthly sales.

http://www.philstar.com/Article.aspx...bCategoryId=66

[jpdm]

NMPI Urges Special Manufacturing Support
New Almera Compact Sedan Launched



By Bernie Cahiles-Magkilat
January 17, 2013, 4:29pm

Nissan Motor Philippines Inc. (NMPI), which assembles most of its motor vehicles in the country, has urged government to provide special support to manufacturing companies that maintain their domestic operations despite high cost of manufacturing and in spite of being at the mercy of cheap imports.

Company president and CEO Allen Chen told reporters as the Taiwanese-owned company has added new model -- Almera – to its product line up that would substantially beef up its local CKD (completely knocked down) assembly operation to much as 90 percent as against imported CBU (completely built-up) units share of only 10 percent.

Cheng said NMPI invested additional P10 million for some retooling of its plant for the assembly of Almera.

“The main concern is for the Board of Investments to grant special support for CKD operations and other manufacturing industries. The high electric power cost and the very cheap CBU imports because of the zero tariff of imports coming from ASEAN, these are not good for local manufacturing so the government should consider granting special support for manufacturing,” Chen said.

Chen, however, refused to specifically say what special support the government should provide to the manufacturing sector in order to help offset the high cost of manufacturing in the country.

Despite the high cost of manufacturing in the country, Chen said NMPI, which is 85 percent owned by the Taiwanese-Yulon Motors, would still like to maintain more CKD assembly in the country than CBU. It has 90:10 ratio in favor of CKD operation.

The assembly of Almera would also bring the number of CKD models to four (Almera, X-Trail, Grand Livina and Sentra 1.3) of NMPI to four. It has only two imported CBU models (Teana and Sentra 200).

The Almera would also beef up NMPI’s plant capacity utilization to about 50 percent from the current 30 percent. It is positioned to compete in the high volume B-segment, the fastest growing compact sedan car category in the country.

“Let me be honest – sustaining such vehicle operations in the Philippines is definitely a challenge, as we, similar to other local players, need to hurdle high manufacturing cost. We are among the few car manufacturers who continue to weather the challenging local automotive industry. In addition to high overhead costs, we need to contend with imported CBU vehicles, which have become more attractive over the years due to free trade agreements with other regions,” Chen said in a speech during the launch of Almera Wednesday night.

“Despite the continuous difficulties we encounter, we choose to be resilient, as we are optimistic that our industry will soon become more competitive with other ASEAN markets, especially with the government’s support,” he added.

For a long time, NMPI has not really competed in the B-segment. The introduction of Almera will fill that void and put NMPI in a more competitive mode.

“This is the right product and the right price that could meet the big demand for this segment,” said Chen.

Lee Ceasar S. Junia, NMPI vice-president for marketing, sales and after sales division, said the company is targeting total sales this year to hit 4,000 units, more than double the 1,600 units the company sold in 2012.[SIZE="4"] NMPI employs 250 Filipino at its assembly plant in Sta. Rosa, Laguna, south of Manila, which operates a single shift operation.[/SIZE]

Junia expects the Almera to give existing B-segment players in the market a good competition. It is volume driven and could compete in terms of features and price point.

“We’ve no new model that really provided us the volume like Vios, City and other multi-purpose vehicle brands until we came up with Almera,” Junia said.

The 1.5 Almera has a starting price of P710,000 manual compared to Vios 1.3 with P690,000. NMPI said that Almera offers a good fuel efficiency, high affordability with C-segment space at a B-segment price.

The Almera alone is expected to contribute 250 units in sales a month and bring its total monthly CKD production to 350 from the current 80 to 100 units, Lee said. The 250 sales a month would give Almera a 15 percent share of the B-segment market, which offers a price range of P600,000 to P850,000 a unit.

The new model is being hyped as being built with “affordable dynamic sedan” in mind and elegant styling with great functionality.

Almera has successful launches in China, Thailand, Malaysia, US and India with global sales reaching already reaching more than 500,000 units.

NMPI Urges Special Manufacturing Support | The Manila Bulletin Newspaper Online

[ghosthunter]

Protecting a non-viable business by asking the government to support you is just asking the government to use public money to fill a bottomless hole.

[jpdm]

Gov't dangling non-tax perks to Japanese automakers, Philippine assemblers
say


By: Ben Arnold O. De Vera, InterAksyon.com
March 22, 2013 5:48 PM
InterAksyon.com
The online news portal of TV5

MANILA - The Philippine government has dangled a number of non-fiscal incentives before Japanese carmakers in a bid to revitalize the local auto manufacturing and parts industry, the Philippine Automotive Competitiveness Council Inc (PACCI) said on Friday.

NAMIS showcases the following non-fiscal support policy measures: stricter implementation of the Motor Vehicle Inspection Scheme; eliminating duplication in the Certificate of Payment Requirement for the import of completely knocked down (CKD) kits to be assembled in the Philippines; and establishing shared services such as testing facilities for parts manufacturers, among others.

Quoting the BOI official, PACCI said these non-fiscal perks “will help local car manufacturers quickly use their idle plant lines, taking the utilization from the current 36 percent to full capacity of 200,000 units in the next two years.”

"It is contemplated that the government might help in the fixed investment costs for new assembly and parts manufacturing projects. Variable production cost support is also being considered, tied to volumes and possibly the share of locally manufactured vehicles to the Asean totals," the agency said.

source: Gov't dangling non-tax perks to Japanese automakers, Philippine assemblers say - InterAksyon.com

[uls]

2013 na

the Phil. economy is booming

pero wala parin yung sinasabing Pinoy car

haha