Words by Christopher Kho
Manufacturing cars in the Philippines is no joke. With our country's small automotive industry (and limited government support), Honda, Isuzu, Mitsubishi, and Toyota can probably make more money if they just imported everything from other countries, say... Thailand. But collectively, their operations generate around 8,000 jobs in vehicle manufacturing and another 60,000 in parts manufacturing - supporting the local economy and generating employment for Filipinos. And to further push its growth, the Philippine Automotive Competitiveness Council Inc. (PACCI) is urging some 150 Japanese automotive execs to invest and set up plants here in the Philippines to make locally-manufactured car parts.
“It is crucial for a car manufacturing industry to have the support of locally-manufactured parts,” says PACCI Chairman Feliciano L. Torres. “Bulky, cumbersome items like large stamped body parts and large injection molding parts are expensive to import. If the Philippine car making industry could have a deep pool of locally-manufactured parts, the industry would be far more competitive.”