Car manufacturers favor revival of People’s Car program

The revival of the People’s Car Program (PCP) will depend on the incentives government will be willing to give to attract local automotive manufacturers and new investors to participate in such a program, according to Chamber of Automotive Manufacturers of the Philippines Inc. (CAMPI) president Elizabeth Lee.

According to Lee, CAMPI welcomes the proposal to revive the PCP. However, the envisioned PCP, Lee said, would not necessarily involve a passenger car, but could involve an Asian utility vehicle, motorcycle or some other vehicle that would use a lot of locally manufactured autoparts.

A taskforce comprised of the local automotive industry, local autoparts manufacturers as well as government, Lee said, is in the initial stage of discussing the revival of the PCP.

Crucial to such a program, though, Lee stressed, is the incentives government would be willing to extend to attract local automotive manufacturers and new investors.

Lee cited the experience of China and Thailand when they encouraged their own automotive industry.

Thailand, for instance, she said, created a special tax structure to encourage the manufacture of one-ton pick-up/truck.

Lee assured that if the new program is "interesting enough, we would be among the first to participate."

The proposed PCP, Lee added, would not be limited to local players but to potential new investors.

The Motor Vehicle Parts Manufacturers Association of the Philippines (MVPMAP) is pushing for a revival of the PCP.

The MVPMAP is proposing a brand new vehicle at the price of a second-hand car but with a high level of local content.

The Board of Directors of the MVPMAP met recently with local car and truck assemblers, the Department of Trade and Industry (DTI), the Board of Investments, the Tariff Commission, the Export Processing Zone Authority, Sen. Richard Gordon, chair of the Senate Committee on Transportation and his counterpart in the House, Rep. John Cua, to discuss a second revival of the PCP.

The Philippine vehicle industry, the MVPMAP observed, has been overtaken and left behind by its ASEAN neighbors.

It is in this light that the local parts makers are pushing for the revival of the PCP, Version 2.

The MVPMAP is eyeing an updated version of the affordable and highly-successful AUV.

From the car assemblers, the local parts makers are asking them to take the lead role in the design and development of the People’s Car 2, incorporating whatever parts the local parts makers can possibly supply that conforms to the assemblers’ quality, cost and delivery requirements.

From the government, the MVPMAP is asking for support, protection and incentives, specifically putting a stop to the importation of used vehicles.

Philippine Automotive Federation, Inc. (PAFI) president Vicente Mills agreed that the government "must have a vision of where it wants the local auto industry to be 10 to 20 years from now."

Mills added that there has to be a joint development of lower entry vehicles from the assemblers’ principals abroad.

"We need to focus on the development and production of vehicles affordable to Filipinos," Mills stressed.