TOKYO, Japan — A popular Japanese icon in the 90s may make its comeback after President Ferdinand “Bongbong” Marcos Jr. welcomed the plan of carmaker Toyota to bring back the Tamaraw model in the Philippine market.

In his meeting with Toyota executives, Marcos said the Tamaraw has been a dependable utility transport for many years for Filipinos.

"Many of the Tamaraws you've recently built are still on the road," he said, describing the said model a "workhorse."

The President noted that the Tamaraw brand has been known in the Philippines for decades and not new to the Philippine as well as to the Asian market.

"We have always been appreciative especially in the involvement of Toyota in the Philippines over so many years and I think the mutual experience between Toyota and the Philippine and the local markets has been a good one and the partnership we can look to as a success," Marcos pointed out.

"It is very interesting to hear your new plans for the Philippines and it's very much in alignment with what we're trying to do... we are hoping we are able to improve the situation for your supplier to be able to come in to the ease of doing business," he told the Toyota executives.

President Marcos added the Philippine government is also looking at acquiring one model of the Toyota brand, the Mini-Cruiser, for the use of the military.

"It's something we would like to revisit, simply because we have tried many utility vehicles for the military but they really not been a success for us," he said.

CARS Program

Meanwhile, Marcos said his administration is closely studying the proposed extension of the Comprehensive Automotive Resurgence Strategy (CARS) program.

In his meeting with officials of Mitsubishi Motors Corporation in Tokyo, the President said that while a study is underway, the government is "very much of the mind that we have to encourage this investment because it is an industrial and high-end manufacturing operation."

“It is something that would be important to the Philippines because we are trying to encourage now... both for local businesses and businesses from other countries and businesses from Japan... we are trying to encourage this capital investment to improve the share of manufacturing contribution to the GDP (gross domestic product),” Marcos said.

The Chief Executive pointed out that this would "balance the economy."

“Right now, services is a large majority of the contribution to GDP, which is alright, and we want to keep that going. But we want to balance the contribution from different sectors of the economy,” Marcos said.

Both Mitsubishi Motors Philippines Corporation (MMPC) and Toyota Motor Philippines (TMP) are presently enrolled in the country's CARS program, which offers incentives for manufacturers willing to assemble mass-market cars domestically.

Under the CARS program, participating carmakers are given six years to comply with the minimum volume target sales of 200,000 units each for their enrolled car models for them to get their incentives.

In its presentation, Mitsubishi said the Philippines serves as one of the most important markets for the company and expressed commitment to promote a green energy factory with its solar rooftop project.