Board of Investments (BOI) Managing Head Ceferino S. Rodolfo is amenable to a three-year delay in the compliance of the volume requirement by participants of the Comprehensive Automotive Resurgence Strategy (CARS) Program in consideration of the setback caused by the pandemic.

Rodolfo made this comment following Toyota Motor Philippines (TMP) Chairman Alfred Ty’s preference for a 3-year extension of the 6-year program.

“Without committing, but a three-year extension is reasonable,” said Rodolfo, but he also stressed that this is just a mere extension of the timetable, there will be no adjustment in the volume production rule.

“Everyone agrees that we will be providing reprieve in terms of longer period requirement without adjusting the volume.” TMP and Mitsubishi Motors Philippines Corp. are the only two CARS Program participants.

A 3-year extension could mean exceeding the 5-year life of a car model, but Rodolfo said it would not matter because that means the CARS program participant has to produce the car in the country using the new model.

In addition, Rodolfo said that all the fixed investments committed by the two program participants have already been installed at their respective manufacturing plants and are already producing the models using these equipment.

Rodolfo further explained that since the CARS Program was implemented by an executive order, its extension or modification must also be done via an EO. Then President Benigno S. Aquino III signed EO 152 or the CARS Program in May 2015, while the Implementing Rules and Regulations was completed in May 2018. The CARS program requires each participant to produce at no lower than 200,000 units of the model life of the enrolled vehicles over a maximum of six years.

With their investments, these CARS program participants are also entitled to tax incentives both for the fixed capital investments and the volume produced. So far, Rodolfo said these firms have not yet availed of the tax incentives.

For TMP, the company invested P5.38 billion for the CARS program. These investments include the local parts production of the Toyota Vios at the Resin Injection Molding Facility for bumpers and instrument panels, Roller-Hemming Robots at the welding line, and the newly-inaugurated A0 Press Line for stamping of side member panels.

Through these investments, TMP has started its journey towards “smart manufacturing,” integrating high-tech equipment in the Toyota Production System. Such facilities use robots to automate repetitive tasks, making production processes more efficient. To handle new production technologies, TMP also made substantial investments in manpower training for the acquisition of new skills.

Meanwhile, MMPC invested P4.3 billion, including the P2-billion stamping shop facility located at the 21-hectare Greenfield Automotive Park in Sta. Rosa, Laguna that it acquired from Ford Motor Co.

Philippines, which abandoned its car production operation in the country.

MMPC opened the shop in 2018 for the production of its enrolled models Mirage and Mirage G4.