MANILA — President Ferdinand R. Marcos Jr. has welcomed Mitsubishi Motors Corp.’s (MMC) P7-billion investment plan in the Philippines in the next five years as this will create more jobs for Filipinos.
MMC President and CEO Takao Kato paid a courtesy call to the President in Malacañang Thursday and discussed his company’s investment plan for the country.
Kato said MMC’s expansion plan includes adding a new production model at its Mitsubishi Motors Philippines Corp. (MMPC) plant facility in Laguna.
“The jobs that it will provide, that your investment will provide, are very important to us and certainly, vehicle manufacture is one of those,” President Marcos said.
The President said that MMC will be included in the government’s Revitalizing the Automotive Industry for Competitiveness Enhancement (RACE) Program, a new proposed version of the Comprehensive Automotive Resurgence Strategy (CARS) Program. He hoped MMC’s inclusion would help in its expansion plans.
Kato said the Philippines is MMC’s most important investment in Southeast Asia, citing its good and stable economy.
“In the ASEAN, (the) Philippines is our number one market,” Kato told the President.
MMC is a multinational automobile manufacturer founded in April 1970, maintaining production facilities in Japan, Thailand, Indonesia, Vietnam, China, Russia, and the Philippines.
MMPC, on the other hand, is a 100-percent wholly owned subsidiary of MMC, which began operations as Chrysler Philippines Corp. in 1963 as the assembler and distributor of Chrysler, Dodge, and Plymouth passenger cars.
MMPC has a manufacturing plant located in Santa Rosa, Laguna, with 50,000 units of annual production capacity. It has the potential to expand to 100,000 units per year.
As of November last year, the motor vehicle industry sold 425,208 units, with MMPC cornering 19 percent of the domestic market but second only to Toyota with 46 percent. (PND)
Motors Corp. President and CEO Takao Kato (MMC) paid a courtesy call to President Ferdinand R. Marcos Jr. in Malacañang on Thursday, Feb. 6, and discussed his company’s investment plan for the country. Photo: PBBM’s Facebook page
