Geely prices to increase in wake of gov't safeguard duty

MANILA: Sojitz G Auto Philippines (SGAP), the distributor and importer of Geely vehicles in the country, made an announcement yesterday regarding its price increase for the Okavango, Azkarra, and Coolray variants.

This was done following the Bureau of Customs (BoC) issuance of a Customs Memorandum Order (CMO) under the directive of the Department of Trade and Industry (DTI) last February 1, 2021 to place a safeguard tariff on the majority of imported vehicles.

Nevertheless, despite the vehicle price hike announcement of SGAP, the enforcement of the price increase will not be done immediately. 

SGAP President and CEO Mikihisa Takayama explained, “the new safeguard tariff will eventually raise prices of Geely vehicles for new shipments which will arrive this month. The good news, however, is that our customers can still enjoy the current prices since we, the distributor and our dealers still have enough inventory.” 

To date, the DTI has decided to place an additional tax on a majority of imported vehicles, which according to Trade Secretary Ramon Lopez, “will provide a breathing space to the domestic industry.”

Under Republic Act 8800, or the Safeguard Measures Act, the DTI shall impose “a provisional safeguard measure in the form of a cash bond amounting to P70,000/unit for passenger cars/vehicles under AHTN Code 8703 and P110,000/unit for light commercial vehicles under AHTN Codes 8704.21.19 and 8704.21.29.” 

Moreover, the DTI explained that the provisional safeguard measure will operate “while the case is under formal investigation by the Tariff Commission for a period of 200 days” from the time of the release of the BoC’s CMO.

The decision of the DTI to place additional safeguard measures on a majority of the imported vehicles was accomplished in response to the petition that the Philippine Metalworkers Alliance (PMA) has submitted to save local car assembly operations.

Takayama said, “It is unfortunate that such policy was decided to be implemented at a time when the auto industry is expected to recover from the huge drop in sales volume last year due to the pandemic.  In spite of this, SGAP is still optimistic that the auto sales for this year will make a rebound. We also hope that the market can adjust to the new higher prices this policy will bring.” 

SGAP has yet to confirm the price changes on its vehicles.

Photo from Geely Philippines

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