President Ferdinand Marcos Jr. welcomes Mitsubishi Motors Corporation President and CEO Mr. Takao Kato during a courtesy call on February 6, 2025, in the Study Room of Malacañan Palace. (PHOTO AND CAPTION BY YUMMIE DINGDING / PPA POOL)
MANILA, Philippines — The Mitsubishi Motors Corp. (MMC) plans to invest P7 billion in the Philippines over the next five years, the Presidential Communications Office (PCO) said on Friday.
It was announced by MMC president and chief executive officer Takao Kato during a courtesy call with President Ferdinand Marcos Jr. in Malacañang on Thursday.
In a press release, the PCO said MMC’s investment plan includes introducing a new production model at its Mitsubishi Motors Philippines Corp. (MMPC) plant in Laguna.
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“The jobs that it will provide, that your investment will provide, are very important to us, and certainly, vehicle manufacture is one of those,” Marcos said during their meeting.
Marcos added that MMC will be included in the government’s Revitalizing the Automotive Industry for Competitiveness Enhancement Program—a new proposed version of the Comprehensive Automotive Resurgence Strategy Program—aimed at augmenting and enhancing the policy directions of existing motor vehicle development programs.
Kato, for his part, said that the Philippines is MMC’s most important investment in Southeast Asia.
“In the ASEAN [Association of Southeast Asian Nations], (the) Philippines is our number one market,” Kato told Marcos.
MMC is a multinational automobile manufacturer founded in April 1970, maintaining production facilities in Japan, Thailand, Indonesia, Vietnam, China, Russia, and the Philippines.
MMPC, on the other hand, is a 100-percent owned subsidiary of MMC, which began operations in 1963 as the assembler and distributor of Chrysler, Dodge, and Plymouth passenger cars.
It has a manufacturing plant located in Santa Rosa, Laguna, with 50,000 units of annual production capacity.