News

Car industry reveals wish list for Pres. Aquino

Compiled by the TopGear.com.ph staff

Illustration by Joriben Zaballa

TopGear.com.ph Philippine Car News - Car industry wish list for President Noynoy Aquino

He's no Santa Claus but President Benigno Aquino III has been getting loads of wish lists even before his proclamation as the country's new head of state. Here's a list of wishes from the Philippine automotive industry gathered at a recent forum hosted by Sunshine TV and through separate interviews.

"We are fortunate to be in the business of connecting people. Unfortunately, we need better roads, better infrastructure for our customers to use our vehicles and travel to visit their families in the province." - Atty. Albert Arcilla, managing director and chief operating officer of The Covenant Car Company, Inc. (Chevrolet Philippines)

"The traffic situation in the metro has to be improved. The hours-long traffic on the entire stretch of EDSA is becoming too much. Something has to be done about it soon." - Fe Perez-Agudo, president and chief executive officer of Hyundai Asia Resources, Inc.

"There should be some stability in the policies of the government. How can we set the correct and proper pricing if they will keep surprising us with new bills and policies and regulations?" - Bobby Rosales, president of Asian Carmakers Corp. (BMW)

"The government must take the initiative to strengthen the Motor Vehicle Development Program (MVDP). From what I've seen, there are many questionable policies and loopholes in it that can be exploited. Something must be done to prevent this." - Daniel Isla, president of Lexus Manila

"The influx of gray-market imports has to be curbed. Besides the questionable conversion from right-hand to left-hand drive, these gray-market importers have no facilities, they don't pay the correct taxes, they artificially inflate the figures of newly-registered cars in the Land Transportation Office. This has to stop as it's killing the local car industry." - Greg Yu, chairman of CATS Motors, Inc. (Mercedes-Benz)

"The importation of used cars from Japan, America, and other countries must be stopped. These vehicles don't comply with the local regulations, and the conversion of the steering wheel from right-hand drive to left-hand drive is questionable. From my experience, there is no such thing as a bolt-on kit that can easily convert the steering wheel's orientation " - Taizo Furuhashi, executive vice president for marketing of Mitsubishi Motors Philippines Corp.

"He should be supportive of the local automotive industry. Otherwise, we can kiss the industry goodbye. Support will come in the form of incentives, lower cost of production, income tax holidays." - Art Balmadrid, senior vice president of Isuzu Philippines Corp.

"(We need) a strong and viable MVDP--one that is fair to all formal players and one that will encourage additional investments into the country for both CKD (completely knocked down) assembly and legitimate formal importers doing business in the country." - Elizabeth Lee, chief operating officer of Universal Motors Corp. (Nissan) and president of the Chamber of Automotive Manufacturers in the Philippines, Inc.

Do you have a wish list for a better automotive environment, too? Feel free to post it on the comment box below.

 
 
 
Tags: Toyota, Mitsubishi, Chevrolet, Nissan, BMW, Mercedes-Benz, Hyundai, Isuzu, traffic, Noynoy Aquino, government, road conditions, car smuggling

Post Comment | Comments (12) |

 
 
 
 

COMMENTS

  • hopeless says Just fulfill 'em all and the rest should follow. (30 June 2010)
  • ACS45 says Better and wider roads please... In other words, better driving conditions! (30 June 2010)
  • Kinglanevo3 says Better driving conditions (roads,better safety rails etc). I am sick of newly paved roads being pothole ridden after a few rainstorms. The traffic system needs an overhaul,it is a good idea if we take reference on what the developed countries are doing. (30 June 2010)
  • Ads says The DPWH should have their own equipments to maintain the road network around the country. They should not depend on the contractors. (30 June 2010)
  • hopeless says And oh those sirens and blinkers of '8's and private citizens... (30 June 2010)
  • hhhhmmmm... says agree ako sa wish ng isuzu at cats. we must get rid of those gray imports since they really are not reliable, especially those with steering wheels converted from right to left. and yes, the support for local automotive manufacturing industry must be revamped. almost all of the vehicles on the Philippine roads are CBU from Thailand. i'll set honda as an example. Honda Cars Philippines sells CBU of cr-v, accord and jazz from Thailand, while Honda Indonesia offers to their market CKD units which are locally assembled in their own land. same goes in Vietnam. (30 June 2010)
  • gvm0116 says @hhhhmmmm - although i understand and completely agree with you, i, however, can sense what the outcome would be if the gray-imports are to bee banned completely. first, the DPWH won't have any heavy equipment at all to use since all their road graders, bulldozers, dumptrucks, etc. are surplus units. heck, even the private companies run with surplus equipment. second, there will be no more public utility jeepneys plying our streets since all of our "jeeps" are surplus. so, we'd have empty roads with sidewalks full of desperate commuters. third, we can't have alternatives in choosing which shop we purchase our next spare part, we'd be faced between the dilemma of emtying our pockets with the original but costly or save a few pesos for a cheaper, even-more-undependable than surplus replacement. and lastly, a lot of people will lose jobs (think of all those mechanics who'd be jobless). really, i just find it so complicated. again, i do agree with you, but we can't ignore the consequences. (01 July 2010)
  • bluedevil_ZZ says Government should provide better transportation service. Not just making wider roads. But also improve or give better development for public transport like buses, MRT and LRT. If they can offer better efficiency with the public transport sector. Will have a better use of our roads. Also I hope they can subsidies the cost of fuel rather than let the oil companies play around with us in terms of the pricing. If fuel prices goes down we tend to use our cars more often. People now have the choice to either use their cars or commute to places they need to go as long as they can see that both mode of transport can be an advantage for the people. (01 July 2010)
  • Leopaul says Agree ako sa wish ng CATS Motors at Mitsubishi Motors Philippines, but the question is, regarding on "importation of used cars from Japan, America, and other countries must be stopped" and "influx of gray-market imports has to be curbed", do you think kawawa na ang mga nagbebenta ng mga "gray market" JDM Sports Cars? See if we care... (01 July 2010)
  • mico23 says How about this. Establish an energy framework to support a hydrogen-based or other renewable energy source to power future vehicles. (02 July 2010)
  • Bruks_pt says How about this: 1. Auto industry moderates their profit; 2. and government "encourages" auto industry to build/assemble cars locally by lowering tariffs, charges, and especially; corruption. When locally built/assembled cars are affordable, pinoys will surely opt to buy this rather than risky "grey imports". Until then, pinoys will always find a way to get these "grey imports" which are much better equipped pricewise than the cars sold by dealers. (03 July 2010)
  • armoj777 says dapat controlled ang grey market kasi hindi naman pwede mawala totally yun ehh...ang mga luxury dapat okay lang para hindi monopolized ng cats ang mga benz..tapos sa patrol and lc200..hindi naman pwede mawala ang grey market since a lot better ang dubai versions.. (12 July 2010)

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