Chery Automobile to build manufacturing facility in Phl

MANILA, Philippines - Chinese car firm, Chery Automobile Ltd.  will build a manufacturing facility in the Philippines and will make the country its left hand drive manufacturing hub in Southeast Asia, an official from its local unit said.

In a telephone interview, Chery Philippines sales marketing manager Raymond Tribdino said the company plans to construct a manufacturing facility here in the next three years to serve the left hand drive market in the Southeast Asian region.

Aside from serving the local market, Tribdino said they are also looking at selling Philippine made vehicles to the ASEAN market.

Tribdino said they plan to build Philippine specific models for both passenger cars and small vehicles.

“We will have a local partner. We will subcontract. We are in the trial phase and we are working out the shares in the company. We are not sure how much the total investment will be, but normally, one line costs more than $10 million,” Tribdino explained.

In addition to this, Tribdino said they would like to bring in cheaper electric vehicles to the Philippines and the ASEAN market as well.

“For electric cars we would like to introduce the first commercially available electric vehicle,” he said.

He explained that the lithium ion battery is 60 percent of the price. The Chery full electric vehicle is estimated to be at P1.8 million but it could be more. For a single charge, it can run up to 250 kilometers.

Tribdino said they are urging the government to give them incentives like a parking lot with charging station, lower registration rate and zero percent import duty from China. The current import duty is 30 percent.

If the tariff is removed or is the same as AFTA at one percent, the small evehicle will be cheaper at P1.057 million. Although the vehicle is over P1 million, Tribdino said the running cost is low especially with the spikes in oil prices.

In the meantime, Tribdino said they will be beefing up their local sales as Chery China took over from old distributor Easy Way Motors. They bought Easy Way’s assets worth P150 million.

Tribdino said they are looking at matching their 2010 sales target last year which is 1068 units. 2010 sales stood at 1,134 units.