Toyota allots P3.8 B for 2017 capex

MANILA, Philippines - Toyota Motor Philippines Corp. (TMP) has earmarked P3.8 billion for capital expenditures this year as it seeks to further cement its dominance in the local automotive industry.

TMP, the local unit of Japanese automotive giant Toyota Motors Corp., intends to use the amount for model upgrades and logistics expansion.

The company finished 2016 as the market leader in automotive sales and continued to hold a significant share of the market at nearly half or 43.42 percent as of end-April.

TMP’s sales for the January to April period likewise registered a strong 23.6 percent year-on-year increase to 53,440 units.

Last year, the firm enrolled its best-selling vehicle — the Vios — as a participant model in the government’s Comprehensive Automotive Resurgence Strategy (CARS) Program.

For the CARS-approved Vios, Toyota made an initial investment of P3.22 billion starting last year.

The automaker said the investment is on top of the over P61 billion cumulative investments made by TMP and its supplier and dealer network in the country in recent years.

TMP said the implementation of the CARS program is expected to open a lot of opportunities for the growth and development of both the vehicle and parts manufacturing industries in the country.

The company has a plant in Sta. Rosa, Laguna where it produces the Innova and Vios models.

With the company’s sustained growth in recent years as well as those of the entire local automotive industry, TMP has earlier expressed concern over the government’s proposed tax rates for motor vehicles, saying it is too high and would be detrimental to the local automotive industry.

TMP vice chairman Alfred Ty said in an interview last January that while the company supports the government’s plans to raise additional revenues, it calls for the increase to be tempered so as not to kill the sales of the industry players.