Mitsubishi taps 25 local suppliers for cars project

Mitsubishi Motors Philippines Corp. has tapped 25 local car parts makers as suppliers for its planned assembly of the Mirage and Mirage G4 under the government’s Comprehensive Automotive Resurgence Strategy (CARS) program.

The suppliers are expected to provide roughly 300 parts, including steering wheel, glass and wheels, among others, MMPC president and CEO Yoshiaki Kato told reporters Monday.

Kato said the car parts manufacturers were expected to infuse additional investments for “local production capability enhancement. They have to invest more [to meet our requirements]. We are now gathering the data how much the suppliers are going to invest.”

The company, he added, was also set to tap more local car parts makers because “the total number of production is going to increase, so more suppliers will come in the future.”

MMPC has committed to invest an initial P4.3 billion to produce 200,000 units of the Mirage over a six-year period. This commitment under the CARS program also called for increased localization of the vehicle to be produced in the country, hence the need to tap local suppliers.

In September this year, MMPC announced that it was ramping up its vehicle production capacity to 39,000 units to meet growing domestic demand and the company’s requirements under the CARS program. To support the 47-percent increase in production, MMPC also hired an additional 500 employees for the two-shift operations, which should have started this month, at the company’s manufacturing plant in Sta. Rosa, Laguna. This facility  has a maximum production capacity of 50,000 units annually.

In June this year, Kato disclosed plans to infuse additional investments in the local automotive industry and introduce new models, including a plug-in hybrid electric vehicle, on the back of a highly bullish outlook on its prospects in the country. The planned additional capital infusion will be on top of the P4.3 billion slated for the CARS program.