Toyota sees exports of auto parts at $820 M this year

MANILA, Philippines – Toyota Group expects its exports of automotive parts for this year to match last year’s performance on expectations of lower car sales in Indonesia and Thailand.

Richard Valdez, vice president for purchasing division at Toyota Motor Philippines Corp. (TMPC) told reporters on the sidelines of a training organized by the US-Asean Business Alliance for Competitive SMEs (small and medium enterprises) the group’s exports of automotive parts from the Philippines this year are seen to be in the “same level as 2015.”

Automotive parts exports of the Toyota Group amounted to $820 million in 2015,   eight percent lower  than  the previous year’s  $890 million.

Valdez said the drop was due to the decline in car sales in Thailand and  Indonesia.

For this year, Valdez said car sales in Thailand and Indonesia are expected to continue to be on a downward trend, coming from high levels in previous years.

“The bulk of our exports are transmission, wiring harness. These go to the two countries,” Valdez said.

Toyota Group is composed of parts suppliers which include Toyota Autoparts Philippines Inc. (TAP) for transmissions and constant velocity joints; Aichi Forging Co. for metal forged parts; EDS Manufacturing Inc. for wiring harness; Fujitsu Ten Corp. of the Phils. for security system; International Wiring Harness  for wiring harness; JECO Autoparts Inc. for clocks; Koyo Manufacturing Inc. for bearings; Nippon Antenna (Phils.) Inc. for antenna; Philippine Auto Components Inc. for meter assembly combination; Philippine HKR Inc. for machining parts; Technol Eight Phils. Corp. for stamped parts; Tokai Rica Phils. Inc. for switches; and Yazaki Torres Manufacturing Inc. for wiring harness.

Valdez said TAP accounted for about 20 percent of the group’s total exports last year.

Toyota Group supports the manufacturing operations of Toyota in the Philippines and overseas.

In the Philippines, the group provides parts to TMPC which has a manufacturing facility in Sta. Rosa, Laguna.

TMPC produced nearly 49,000 units, while it sold a total of 125,027 units last year.

The company announced earlier it plans to pour in at least one billion yen (about P405.8 million) to expand its local production capacity to participate in the government’s vehicle manufacturing incentive scheme the Comprehensive Automotive Resurgence Strategy program.