Need to develop unified Asean car market cited

Participants to the 4th Conference ASEAN Auto Supporting Industries agreed yesterday in the need to develop a unified ASEAN market for the automotive industry to be able compete effectively against China, the US and European Union.

Tadao Suzuki, vice chairman and president of the Japan Automobile Manufacturers Association, Inc. (JAMA), admitted that China is a big potential market for Japanese automakers.

At the moment though, Suzuki said, most of the cars being sold in China are exported from Japan.

In the future, however, Suzuki said, Japanese car makers would eventually like to engage in local manufacturing in
China but would wait for China’s policy on automotive manufacturing.

Suzuki assured though, that while China offers potential, a unified ASEAN market would still easily beat that of China.

Aisha Ahmad, president of the ASEAN Automotive Federation, was optimistic about the growth prospects for the industry.

She projected that there would be a market for two million automotive units by the year 2005.

Specifically, she said, demand for commercial vehicles is growing. In the Philippines, demand for commercial vehicles has been the main engine of growth for the local automotive industry.

The growth of the industry, however, Ahmad said, would depend on develop-ing a unified regional market and the improvement in the economies of individual member countries.

ASEAN member countries are set to integrate their market next year under the ASEAN Free Trade Agreement (AFTA).

AFTA would require a member countries to lower their tariff rate to between zero to five percent.– Marianne Go