Car makers seek release of industry road map

MANILA, Philippines - With the road map for the automotive industry not likely to be released this year, local vehicle assemblers are urging the government to come up with the plan by the first quarter of next year as having the road map would be crucial in making investment decisions in the country for local carmakers.

“Major decisions are expected to be made and roll out of the road map by the first quarter of next year will be very crucial,” Chamber of Automotive Manufacturers of the Philippines, Inc. (CAMPI) president Rommel Gutierrez said in a text message yesterday.

He said that while the group understands the government needs more time to come up with a realistic and meaningful road map for the industry, the plan has to be released soon.

“Time is of the essence though and industry players have been eagerly waiting for the government to announce the road map,” he said.

The CAMPI has said earlier the government needs to release the road map within this year for firms to determine whether to make additional investments for assembly operations here and prepare for the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) Economic Community to be established in December 2015.

Trade Secretary Gregory Domingo said earlier this month it is unlikely for the government to release the road map for the automotive industry this year as the National Economic and Development Authority (NEDA) Board wants more information on the local industry’s performance.

“The NEDA Board requested for more comparative info among our ASEAN neighbors,” he said.

Under the proposed road map, the Department of Trade and Industry wants to provide incentives to automotive firms which meet the minimum volume of production of 40,000 units per model per year.

This, as it wants the automotive firms to become competitive and be able to export to other countries.

Local vehicle assemblers have said the proposed minimum volume of production, however, is not realistic and would not support the growth of the industry.

Latest data from the ASEAN Automotive Federation showed that the Philippines remained Southeast Asia’s laggard in terms of motor vehicle production in the January to October period as it manufactured only 66,566 units.

In the same period, Thailand assembled a total of 2.115 million vehicles, while Indonesia produced 1.002 million vehicles, Malaysia manufactured 494,417 vehicles and Vietnam made 73,653 vehicles.