Isuzu invests P100 M to boost D-Max production line

MANILA, Philippines - Isuzu Philippines Corp. (IPC) is investing between P60 million up to P100 million to enhance its production assembly line as it intends to manufacture the new D-Max pick-up.

IPC executive vice president Takashi Tomita said in a press  conference for the launch of the new D-Max pick-up yesterday the firm is currently spending “around P60 to P80 million to strengthen the production line.”

IPC senior vice president for sales Arthur Balmadrid said in the same

event the total investment could reach P100 million as the firm makes enhancements to its production line in Binan, Laguna, in preparation for the assembly of the new D-Max pick-up.

While IPC would initially import from Thailand the new D-Max to be sold here for four months, the firm intends to start manufacturing the vehicle at its plant later this year.

IPC president Nobuo Izumina said in the same event the plan is to start the assembly of the D-Max here by December.

“The decision will benefit the Philippine workforce and help boost the Philippine automotive industry,” he said.

Almost all or 90 percent of the vehicles sold by IPC are locally-assembled.

Balmadrid said the firm has decided to manufacture the new D-Max here to support the local automotive industry.

The new D-Max pick-up, which would be available at IPC’s dealerships beginning today, is designed to give the best performance under any road and weather condition and provide excellent fuel efficiency.

It is available in seven variants with the 4x4 variants priced between P1.153 million to P1.457 million, and the 4x2 variants costing between P697,000 to P1.144 million.

Tomita said the firm intends to sell 4,000 units of the D-Max next year to increase IPC’s share in the pick-up market which is currently at 10 percent to 20 percent.

So far, IPC has received 400 to 500 orders for the new D-Max.

While the firm has decided to locally manufacture the D-Max, the units to be assembled at the Laguna plant would only be sold in the domestic market.

This, as Izumina noted the firm would need support from the government, through incentives, to be able to export given that other countries in the Southeast Asian region have bigger production volumes and can assemble vehicles at lower cost.

Trade Secretary Gregory Domingo said on Tuesday the Department of Trade and Industry is studying the possibility of providing incentives for automotive firms which meet the minimum production volume of 40,000 units per model per year, with part of the output to be sold to other countries, under the roadmap for the units industry.

Domingo said the incentives could convince local vehicle assemblers to hike their production and enable them to compete in the Southeast Asian region.

Balmadrid admitted though that it would be difficult for IPC to meet the minimum volume of production.

“Definitely we will not qualify. We are hoping the roadmap will not only benefit one or two manufacturers but all remaining automotive manufacturers,” he said further.

The IPC, which intends to produce 11,000 vehicles this year, aims to hit record-high sales of 13,000 units.

In 2012, the firm sold a total of 11,759 units.

As of end-August, the IPC has sold 7,673 units, up slightly from 7,579 units in the same period last year.