Toyota Phils Not Poised to Undertake Major Investments in 2009
Market leader Toyota Motor Philippines Corp. (TMPC) is only looking at equaling its 2008 performance for next year and is not expected to undertake new major investments.
This, as car companies in the country are said to be “cautiously optimistic” of industry prospects in 2009, projecting a 2-percent to 4-percent growth in sales volume.
Elizabeth Lee, president of the Chamber of Automotive Manufacturers of the Philippines Inc. (Campi), said the industry is aiming for a high of 130,000-unit sales volume for 2009. This will be 4-percent higher than the estimated 125,000 units that Campi is expecting to sell this year.
“This year, we are still gunning for 125,000 units. For next year, we are slight positive between 2-percent to 4-percent growth translated to 130,000 sales volume at 4 percent. Although the 2009 forecasted growth may be lower than this year’s 10-percent growth so far, auto players remain cautiously optimistic given the local industry’s better performance versus that of other developed markets,” Lee said.
Rommel Gutierrez, TMPC vice president, said while the local market has yet to feel the impact of the global crisis, there is big possibility that the economic situation will turn for the worse next year.
With this in mind, Gutierrez said the company will have to ramp up its marketing efforts and maintain the production of its Philippine best-sellers, including the Vios compact sedan, to achieve even a flat growth for 2009.
“We don’t want to be pessimistic about it [crisis]. We will just maintain our sales,” he told the BusinessMirror at the opening of the Toyota Automotive Rooms at the Don Bosco Technical Institute-Makati.
He said, while they are still not making key alterations in their business plan for 2009, TMPC is not going to make major investments like bringing in new CKD (completely knocked down) models.
TMPC, which continues to dominate the market with a share of about 38 percent, is also making sure that it will have steady source of competent technicians by tying up with the Don Bosco Technical Institutute.
The company donated P3.5 million for the Toyota Rooms with automotive equipment and training vehicles at Don Bosco.
“We firmly believe that in every quality vehicle we produce, there is always a quality automotive technician behind. Producing quality technicians trained the Toyota way has been proven to be much better if we start at school, and with their skills, knowledge and attitude further honed through our Toyota Dealer Network,” David Go, Toyota Motor Philippine Foundation president, said.
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i really love toyota cars…………hmmmmmmm im hoping to buy one soon.