Toyota confident of hitting CARS program target

FILE: Toyota service center in Butuan City (Photo: Thrifty Look/Flickr, CC BY 2.0)

MANILA — Toyota Motors Philippines (TMP) said it is on track to hit the 200,000 sales on Vios over a six-year period under the Comprehensive Automotive Resurgence Strategy (CARS) program.

“TMP’s locally assembled passenger car, the Toyota Vios, which has entered under the CARS program, remained as the country’s best-selling vehicle with 33,181 units sold (in 2019). This puts Toyota on track to deliver its commitment under the program,” TMP Chairman Alfred Ty said during the media event of TMP on Monday.

The CARS program was approved in 2015 through an executive order.

The program aims to stimulate the local production of automotive vehicles by giving time-bound and output-based fiscal support to participating car makers provided they will meet the program’s requirements, such as increasing the local content of the enrolled vehicle model and producing and selling 200,000 units in a span of six years.

Toyota Vios is one of the two enrolled vehicles for the CARS program.

In 2019, TMP sales reached 162,011 units. A total of 54,028 units were locally assembled.

Ty said this is a reflection of TMP’s further commitment to the development of the local automotive industry.

He said TMP contributed PHP48 billion in duties and taxes at end-2019, and a total of PHP384 billion in its 31 years of operations in the country.

“With our 2019 momentum, we are moving forward with optimism while experts anticipate an economic rebound in 2020,” he added.