Mitsubishi to invest P10B in PH
MANILA, Philippines—Mitsubishi Motors Corp. (MMC) is eyeing an initial investment of P10 billion in its Philippine operations to establish its third Southeast Asian manufacturing hub in the country, a statement from the Department of Trade and Industry’s foreign trade office in Japan showed.
The proposed capital infusion would be used to increase the current production of Mitsubishi Motors Philippines Corp. (MMPC) to as many as 100,000 units annually, from the current 15,000.
MMC officials, led by their chair Osamu Masuko, made the disclosure before President Aquino in a visit to Malacañang in March this year.
The plan to increase production volumes was also confirmed by MMPC officials in an interview with reporters last Friday.
MMPC president and CEO Hikosaburo Shibata said the company’s acquisition of the factory site in Sta. Rosa, Laguna, from Ford Motor Co. Philippines would allow the company to further increase its capacity, and even add a new model to be produced in the country.
“We have a strong intention to add a new model (in our lineup) as we’d like to continuously work here. Manufacturing cars is very important because we cannot rely only on imported cars. But Cainta is becoming largely a residential area, so further expansion is very difficult. This is why we transferred to the Sta. Rosa industrial area,” Shibata explained.
MMPC’s existing facility in Cainta, Rizal, can produce the Lancer EX, Adventure, and L300 at a rate of 30,000 units a year. The current utilization rate, however, is only half at 15,000 units in 2013.
But the Sta. Rosa facility can already produce some 50,000 units, which may be doubled to 100,000 units by 2020. At this rate, not only can MMPC serve domestic demand, it can also export locally produced motor vehicles to neighboring countries, Shibata said.
According to the MMPC chief, they have yet to decide on which new model to produce here, but one of the candidates being considered is the Mirage, which the company currently imports from Thailand.
“We are on the decision-making stage and we have not yet decided” which model to produce, Shibata said.
The company is now discussing its proposal with the DTI and Board of Investments, as it hopes to secure support from the Philippine government, he said.
“We’d like to stay here in the country and produce a new model, but the reality is, compared to Thailand and Indonesia, production cost in the Philippines is higher.”
MMPC will start to relocate its operations from the Cainta facility to the Sta. Rosa factory by September or October this year. By January, it expects the Sta. Rosa plant to be fully operational. It is now building up its inventory to prepare for a two-month lull in production when the relocation will be in full swing.
MMPC is highly bullish of its prospects in the Philippines, which it considers a growing market. While its production and sales volumes may be higher in other countries, MMPC enjoys a healthy chunk of the Philippine automotive market with over 20-percent share.
“Everybody in the world is watching the Philippines. Your GDP per capita is now at the $2,700 level and demand is rapidly increasing. The Philippines … shows big potential. So now is the right time to have a new model here for the Filipino people,” Shibata said.
