China's largest manufacturer specialized in two-wheel vehicles Yadea is keen on investing about $100 million in the Philippines for the production of electric motorcycles for the domestic market.
Philippine Economic Zone Authority (PEZA) Director General Tereso O. Panga described the Chinese firm as“walk in” investors as they just practically “walked into” the PEZA office to inquire about their proposal.
He said that Yadea is expected to register its project within the year and should be up and running six months after. The project, which will utilize robotics manufacturing, is expected to employ 200 to 300 workers. It forecasts to sell three to five million units of EV motorcycles.
He said that Yadea plans to establish its manufacturing operation in Batangas for the body building facility and also the plant for the electric battery manufacturer, which will be undertaken by a different entity.
According to Panga, Yadea plans to serve the domestic market.
Yadea’s planned production facility in the Philippines is similar to its projects in Vietnam and Thailand.
The mainland Chinese investor has more than 50 million users in 80-plus countries around the world.
Motorcycle manufacturers in the country said that if the current business landscape will prevail, sales are likely to exceed the pre-pandemic level of 1.7 million units in 2019 as the two-wheeled motor vehicles continued to be one of the most convenient modes of transportation in the country even during and after the pandemic.
Already, sales of members of Motorcycle Development Program Participants Association (MDPPA) in the first quarter this year reached 447,429 units already. MDPPA is composed of Honda, Kawasaki, Suzuki and Yamaha.
MDPPA sold 1,206,374 units in 2020, its lowest, but sales improved considerably in 2021 to 1.43 million units and 1.54 million in 2022.