Toyota is investing P4.5 billion towards new logistics hub in Luzon

MANILA: Major changes are taking place inside Toyota Motors Philippines (TMP). During a press conference in Bonifacio Global City (BGC), TMP executives presented their performance results from the previous year plus announced their plans and investments for incoming 2020.

Two major announcements were made with regard to Toyota’s direction in the country. First is TMP President Satoru Suzuki’s resignation from his post and his future plans within the company; and Toyota’s new investment towards a Luzon logistics hub for import vehicles.

TMP President Suzuki Steps Down

TMP President Satoru Suzuki told reporters on Monday that he will be moving on to other projects with Toyota and will be stepping down from office soon. According to Suzuki, he will be spearheading a new Toyota subsidiary dedicated to studying the consumer behavior of the company’s markets. Toyota currently ranks the Philippine market at 9th worldwide in terms of volume.

TMP has not yet made any official announcements regarding Suzuki’s successor. However, they have mentioned that the next president will be coming from within Toyota Motor Asia Pacific.

Toyota’s New Luzon Facility

Toyota talked about their plans to build a logistics hub in Luzon dedicated to improving the operations of their imported vehicles or completely built-up units (CBU). Suzuki says that the hub is to address an anticipated rise in demand. According to the automaker,

their present courtyard located in Laguna can currently store up to 5,000 vehicles at a time. They want to be prepared for when it eventually exceeds its capacity. The new hub will allow Toyota to increase capacity in importing more vehicles, offering more units for the Philippine market.

This announcement was made in light of the Department of Trade and Industry’s (DTI) proposals to raise taxes for imported vehicles. This is with the intention of encouraging automakers to instead produce models locally.

Toyota is currently the largest single importer of CBU vehicles. The Vios and the Innova are the only two models currently being manufactured locally. They accounted for 29% of TMP’s sales in 2018, however, it still pales in comparison to the 71% of sales from imported models.

While minimal details were disclosed, Toyota revealed that they will be shelling out P4.5-billion to build the facility. They expect the Luzon hub to be operational by late 2020.

Also read: Toyota RAV4 is hailed Japan’s Car of the Year for 2019