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President Marcos met with officials of Mitsubishi Motors Corp. led by president and CEO Takao Kato at Malacañang on Thursday to discuss the Japanese automaker’s plan to invest P7 billion to expand its operations in the Philippines in the next five years.
MANILA, Philippines — Mitsubishi Motors Corp. (MMC) is planning to invest P7 billion in the Philippines in the next five years, Malacañang announced yesterday.
The investment was among the topics discussed by President Marcos and MMC president and CEO Takao Kato during the latter’s courtesy call at the Palace on Thursday.
Kato briefed the President about the company’s expansion plan, including a new production model at its Mitsubishi Motors Philippines Corp. (MMPC) facility in Laguna.
“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 told Kato during the courtesy call.
The President said the Japanese multinational carmaker would be included in the government’s Revitalizing the Automotive Industry for Competitiveness Enhancement or RACE program, a new proposed version of the Comprehensive Automotive Resurgence Strategy or CARS program, to support its expansion plans.
Kato said the Philippines is MMC’s most important investment in Southeast Asia, citing the country’s good and stable economy.
“In ASEAN, (the) Philippines is our number one market,” Kato told the President.
Founded in April 1970, MMC maintains production facilities in Japan, Thailand, Indonesia, Vietnam, China, Russia and the Philippines.
The MMPC, a wholly owned subsidiary of MMC, began operations as Chrysler Philippines Corp. in 1963 as the assembler and distributor of Chrysler, Dodge and Plymouth passenger cars.
MMPC has a manufacturing plant located in Sta. Rosa, Laguna, with 50,000 units of annual production capacity. It has the potential to expand to 100,000 units per year.
From January to November last year, the motor vehicle industry sold 425,208 units, with MMPC cornering 19 percent of the domestic market, next to Toyota with 46 percent.
