Toyota parts makers investing P7.5B to raise Vios local content, fund new projects

To raise the local component of the Vios model and finance new projects, the Toyota Group is investing P7.5 billion from 2014 to 2016, the company said Wednesday.

 

The plan is to prepare ahead of a recovery in overseas demand, while expanding the local content of Vios as assembled in the Toyota Motor Philippines Corp. (TMPC) factory in Santa Rosa, Laguna.

 

“The slowdown in export performance is only temporary and exports will soon recover,"  Michinobu Sugata, TMPC president.

 

"The booming Philippine auto market will also be an additional source of growth for parts suppliers,” he added.

 

The Toyota Group consists mainly of parts suppliers supporting TMPC operations, which include: 

“Approximately $300-million investments are being considered in view of the forthcoming new auto policy. Final decisions will only be made once the government finally issues the auto road map,” the group noted.

 

The auto industry road map is the support the Philippine-based carmakers have been waiting for on the part of government and on which investment decisions are dependent. 

 

The Toyota Group said the industry road map is essential, considering carmakers are in the process of expanding operations in the Philippines – which mean additional investments.

 

This year, the group has lowered export projections for Philippine factories to $897 million from $1 billion and is 4 percent down from actual exports of $939 million in 2013 due to developments in Japan and Thailand.

 

“Decline in domestic demand is foreseen in Thailand, given the political situation, while market contraction is expected in Japan following the implementation of higher consumption tax beginning April 2014,” Sugata noted. – VS, GMA News