US car manufacturers should take advantage of the Philippine government’s program providing incentives to automotive manufacturers, according to the American Chamber of Commerce of the Philippines.
AmCham Philippines senior adviser John Forbes said the Comprehensive Automotive Resurgence Strategy program would certainly arouse the interest of car companies outside Asia.
“But Cars [program] must be promoted by the Trade Department. American car parts manufacturers should look at Cars,” he said.
Forbes said American car manufacturers used to have assembly operations in the Philippines.
One example was Ford Motor Philippines which used to have an assembly plant in Sta. Rosa, Laguna.
The plant now belongs to Mitsubishi Motor Philippines Corp., the second biggest car company in the Philippines, in terms of market share.
Forbes said Philippine trade attaches assigned to different American states should help the Trade Department raise awareness about the program and the massive benefits it offers to the industry.
The Cars program is the biggest and most ambitious automotive incentives program that the government has offered to investors.
It provides P27 billion worth of fiscal and non-fiscal incentives that will be given to three participating car companies, within the next six years.
In exchange, accredited car companies should manufacture at least 200,000 units of four-wheeled passenger cars each, or a total of 600,000 units.
Incentives would kick in once companies reached their 101,000th unit.
Mitsubishi was the first car company to announce its plan to enroll Mitsubishi Mirage in the incentives program.
Companies are given until March 15, 2016 to submit their application to the Trade Department.