October 28, 2024 | 12:00am
MANILA, Philippines — Expect more cars on Philippine roads next year, with motor vehicle sales projected by the Chamber of Automotive Manufacturers of the Philippines Inc. (CAMPI) to increase by 10 percent as more models, including EVs, are introduced to the market.
During the ninth Philippine International Motor Show, CAMPI president Rommel Gutierrez told reporters that total vehicle industry sales may increase by “easily 10 percent next year.”
He said CAMPI’s target of selling 468,300 units this year is doable, with vehicle sales usually picking up during the holiday season.
Asked if it will be possible to hit record vehicle sales of 500,000 units this year, he said “if not this year, next year, because we are almost there.”
“There are still many product launches,” he added.
Combined sales of CAMPI and the Truck Manufacturers Association climbed by 9.4 percent to 344,307 units in the January to September period this year from 314,843 units in the same period last year.
Gutierrez said locally assembled vehicles are expected to be lower than 100,000 units per year.
In terms of the outlook for EV sales including hybrid and pure EVs this year, he said the figure is expected to reach over 10,000 units.
He emphasized that both local vehicle production and the push for EV adoption would need government support.
“Local manufacturing needs support from the government in order to maintain viability,” he said.
Under the Comprehensive Automotive Resurgence Strategy (CARS) program, participants Toyota Motor Philippines Corp. and Mitsubishi Motors Philippines Corp. have to invest for the production of at least 200,000 units of their enrolled vehicle model within six years to avail themselves of fiscal support from the government.
“We have always been telling government that CARS is a good program. So if you need to extend or even come up with a new support program, we would prefer something like CARS because of the specific targets both on the part of the government and the private sector,” Gutierrez said.
For EVs, CAMPI supports extending the zero import duties on these vehicles beyond 2028 through legislation, as well as providing incentives to encourage development of infrastructure like charging stations.
Trade Undersecretary Ceferino Rodolfo told reporters during the 12th Philippine EV Summit that the Department of Trade and Industry (DTI) aims to issue the Electric Vehicle Incentive Strategy (EVIS) before the end of the year.
Through the EVIS, the government will provide fiscal and non-fiscal support for the manufacture of EVs and EV charging stations, as well as EV-related research, development and testing.
Under the EVIS presented by the DTI to stakeholders for public consultation, the government is looking at a production target of 6.3 million EV units under the clean energy scenario (CES) or 1.7 million EV units under business as usual (BAU) by 2040.
The proposed EVIS also sets a target of 147,000 EV charging stations under the CES or 42,000 EV charging stations under the BAU scenario.
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