PH manufacturers await DTI decision on CARS program

Toyota Motor Philippines (TMP) said it was still waiting for the Department of Trade and Industry (DTI) to advise it about the future of an ambitious local car production program that was started under the Aquino administration, hoping the decision would be released as soon as possible.

This was the response of a Toyota executive when asked for an update regarding the CARS program, or the Comprehensive Automotive Resurgence Strategy, a P27-billion government initiative that aimed to tap three car manufacturers to locally produce a combined total of 600,000 units within a six-year period.

Only the country’s two market leaders enrolled in the CARS program—Mitsubishi Motors Philippines, which committed to make Mirage units, and Toyota, which committed to make Vios units here.

The Board of Investments (BOI), a DTI attached agency, had previously said the government was considering to extend the timeline of the program given the impact of the pandemic. Originally, the deadline to comply would end in 2023 for Mitsubishi and 2024 for Toyota.

“[We’re] waiting for [an advice] from [the] DTI,” said TMP first vice president Rommel Guttierez in a mobile phone message when asked for an update. He said he hoped the government would issue its official decision as soon as possible.

Deadline

Back in April of this year, the BOI said the government would issue an executive order in June to add another three years to the CARS program. But this did not push through. In November, the BOI said the plan was still to extend the deadline, hoping to have the measure approved sometime in February 2022.

While the plan is still to give the carmakers leeway to make up for the time they lost during the pandemic, BOI managing head Ceferino Rodolfo said the authorities were considering to recommend “to extend it (the CARS program) with the same duration as the declared state of national emergency.”

Rodolfo said back then that this would still be up for the approval of the Fiscal Incentives Review Board, which is chaired by the Department of Finance. This, he said, would also be in line with the implementing rules of the Corporate Recovery and Tax Incentives for Enterprises Act. INQ