Pilipinas Taj eyes slot in PUV program

Pilipinas Taj Autogroup Inc. (PTAJ), the official local distributor of Tata Motors Ltd., is gearing up to participate in the government’s PUV modernization program as it plans to set up a local assembly plant costing at least $8 million, a company official said.

PTAJ president Cresencio Fernandez Jr. said they were preparing to submit to the Board of Investments (BOI) two jeepney prototypes, one with a seating capacity of nine to 22 people and the other, 22 to 30.

The government launched in June the PUV modernization program, a three-year initiative that would phase out more than 200,000 old jeepneys under the leadership of the Department of Transportation. The BOI, for its part, is coming up with a local manufacturing solution that would take the place of the traditional but inefficient vehicles.

PTAJ, a new player that joined the fast-growing local automobile industry in 2014, wants to participate in that manufacturing space, Fernandez said. The company, however, has yet to hold formal talks with the BOI.

“We’ll still get the cab chassis from Tata Motors [in India.] We, as their distributor in the Philippines, will tie up with local body manufacturers,” he said.
Tata Motors is one of India’s biggest vehicle companies.
On Tuesday, Tata Motors announced that it has a distribution agreement with PTAJ wherein the former would supply its commercial vehicle brands—the Tata Prima range of tractor trailers and tippers, the LPT range of light, medium and heavy trucks, SFC 407 and the mini truck range of Ace and Super Ace.

PTAJ, which seeks to triple volume sales this year after delivering around 400 units, is currently scouting locations outside Metro Manila for their assembly plant, he said, with existing but unused plants as part of the consideration. He said that local assembly would start “probably within 2 to 3 years” with the plant costing “$8 million at the minimum.”

The timeline of the project in line with the modernization program is still unclear, especially given that the scheme was supposed to finish its transition by 2020. Fernandez, however, claimed they were told the program would span seven years.

“The plan is to start next year. That’s a 7-year program. They are aiming to replace 250,000 jeepneys. It could not be done over a period of one year or two years,” he said.

The Bureau of Philippine Standards (BPS), an attached agency of the Department of Trade and Industry (DTI), is already asking for inputs from stakeholders on the draft standard of the PUV, aiming to finalize the suggested blueprint this September. Fernandez said their prototypes were “compliant” to the draft standard.

Furthermore, he said that since the prototypes were still “concept vehicles,” he could not yet pin down the price of the finished products. Trade and Industry Secretary Ramon M. Lopez said earlier that the final output of the manufacturing scheme should be priced below P1 million. —ROY STEPHEN C. CANIVEL