Mitsubishi Motors Philippines Corp. (MMPC) would start exporting locally produced vehicles to different parts of Southeast Asia next year, the Department of Trade and Industry (DTI) said.
In a statement on Thursday, DTI said the company would be exporting Mirage and L300 units by 2019, a move which could help address the country’s worsening trade deficit.
Trade Secretary Ramon Lopez recently met with Mitsubishi Motors Corp. chief executive Osamu Masuko to discuss the possibility of exporting cars to the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (Asean).
DTI said Masuko also relayed plans to help develop the local electric vehicle industry.
“The intention is to produce specific models that will be exported to our neighbors in Asean,” Lopez said.
MMPC is currently locally producing Mirage and Mirage G4 units under the multibillion-peso Comprehensive Automotive Resurgence Strategy (CARS) program, an initiative under the Aquino administration whereby it committed to locally produce a total of 200,000 units by 2023.
The export plan could help buoy the manufacturer’s sales. Vehicle sales of the entire industry, including MMPC, had suffered huge declines for most part of this year.
According to official industry data, overall MMPC vehicle sales dropped 7 percent by end-November to 62,013 units from 66,704 units in the same period in 2017.
“We keep saying that building an export manufacturing base is the way to go. It is also a good import substitution strategy. Through this initiative, we will address the trade imbalance and provide more jobs to our countrymen,” Lopez said.