Norkis to assemble Durango, Town & Country van in Cebu

Norkis Automotive Resources Corp. (NARC) president Luis B. Quisumbing announced yesterday that Norkis would start the assembly by 2004 of several Chrysler vehicles, namely the Durango and Town and Country van.

In line with this, Quisumbing said NARC is moving its assembly operations from Mandaue to Canamucan, Compostela, North of Cebu.

The 10-hectare Compostela facility, Quisumbing said, is part of the facilities turned over by NARC’s former partner, Daewoo, as settlement for the dissolution of its partnership with NARC.

The 10-hectare property will become the center of NARC’s assembly operations for its motorcycles, multicab and Chrysler vehicles.

Under its application with the Board of Investments, NARC would have 18 months from September this year to start full completely-knocked down assembly operations.

NARC was able to import its initial semi-knocked down (SKD) packs for the Town & Country van last September.

It is expecting another delivery of Durango SKD packs this month.

The BOI has approved NARC’s application to import an initial 1,000 units of Daimler vehicles initially on an SKD basis to determine which models it would eventually choose to assemble.

NARC has until 2003 to import the initial 1,000 units.

To date, NARC has imported 100 units of Town & Country vans, of which it has been able to sell 70 units.

The Town & Country van is priced at P1.9 million while the Durango will retail at round P1.75 million. – Marianne Go