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Friday, March 29, 2024

2020 blindsides car sector, but Toyota’s top brass stay upbeat

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AT a mini-press conference on Friday at the Grand Hyatt-BGC, Toyota Motor Phils. Chairman Alfred Ty said that, while the pandemic pummeled the automobile sector, they’re hopeful that recovery is on track, as sales are starting to pick up.

An indicator of such optimism, according to Senior Vice President Jing Atienza, Toyota’s Batangas vehicle logistics hub is on track to be opened by the end of 2021. The facility sitting on a 32-hectare site is now on the third phase, costing P4.7 billion. The project’s first phase cost them P420 million.

Toyota Motors Philippines Chairman Alfred Ty (left) and TMP President Atsuhiro Okamoto chat before the start of a mini-press conference on Friday at the Grand Hyatt-BGC. Ty said that, while the pandemic pummeled the automobile sector, they’re hopeful that recovery is on track, with sales starting to pick up.

Ty sees 2021 bringing a lot of hope and optimism, but conceded that it is not going to be all smooth sailing moving forward. He also shared that while the automotive industry as a whole may have seen challenging sales at the onset of the pandemic, TMP also saw gradual growth from the lowest point in May.

“We expect this increase to continue as Filipinos ease back into their daily routines and resume pursuing the life goals that had to take a backseat in 2020,” said Ty. The TMP chairman also acknowledged the “Build, Build, Build” project of the government for the continuous construction of new roads and highways, which will enable economic recovery efforts.

Further, TMP top executives also welcomed recent pronouncements by Board of Investments (BOI) officials regarding the possibility of extending the Comprehensive Automotive Resurgence Strategy (CARS) Program, considering the impact of the pandemic on car manufacturing and sales.

Respectable sales data

Meanwhile, TMP President Atsuhiro Okamoto proudly shared what the company achieved in vehicle sales. Despite the challenges, TMP was able to reach 100,019 unit sales in 2020. That also translates to an expanded share of the market at 41.3 percent.

As for the recent announcement of Safeguard duties, TMP sees this would adversely impact market recovery and limit growth as early as provisional duties are implemented.

According to Okamoto, TMP operates based on combined locally produced and imported vehicles.  So, maximizing the efforts to promote sales of locally-manufactured Vios and Innova will cushion the impact of safeguard duties. “We are counting on the support of Filipinos to buy Filipino,” he added.

Image credits: Nonie Reyes
Read full article on BusinessMirror

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