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The Philippine auto industry has undoubtedly been largely affected by the Japan Earthquake last March 2011. Most car part importers have become very cautious in predicting future sales and have decided to lower them and optimize production thru a myriad of ways.

One of these manufacturers is Honda Car Philippines, Inc.

“Currently, we are on an indefinite ‘yellow flag’ status—meaning we are on an alert mode—because of the fluidity of the situation. We will conduct a monthly review [to assess the situation],” Voltaire Gonzales, head of Honda Cars Philippines sales department…

He also said the company might not be able to reach the 17,600 units predicted this year.

However, the Chamber of Automotive Manufacturers of the Philippines Inc. (CAMPI) has said it will remain with its forecast since sales will pick up come the latter part of the year. According to Elizabeth Lee, CAMPI President, they will stay the course:

“Despite the difficulties we face due to the lack of supply of some vehicles and parts, we are optimistic that we will be able to recover the lost sales given the full-year outlook.”

The Philippine auto industry will know by next financial year-end report as to who was right.

Brought to you by car hire Cyprus. Article via Manila Standard Today | Image StaraBlazkova at the Czech language Wikipedia [GFDL or CC-BY-SA-3.0], from Wikimedia Commons

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With Japanese import car parts having trouble lately, the local car manufacturers seems to be having a great quarter. One of them is Mazda Philippines as it posts a 13 percent growth this quarter compared to same period last year.

The company has sold 1,080 units in from January to April 2011, which when compared to last year, is a 13 percent increase. April has been the strongest month so far:

In April, Mazda sold a total of 236 as a result of the strong performance of the Mazda2 and Mazda3. The Mazda2 saw April sales of 94 units, up 18 percent versus the same month last year. Year-to-date sales of the popular sub-compact total 335 units, representing a 55 percent increase.

Congratulations to Mazda, we hope the other car manufacturers find a way to emulate them.

Article via Malaya Business Insight | Image By Thomas doerfer (Own work) [GFDL or CC-BY-SA-3.0], via Wikimedia Commons

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According to Frank Nacua, secretary-general of the Philippine Automotive Federation Inc., the Philippine auto industry is expecting a flat sales growth this year.

“Flat growth will be expected this year for the local car industry,” Frank Nacua, secretary-general of the Philippine Automotive Federation Inc., told reporters in a chance interview. He said the industry’s growth target of 4 percent to 5 percent drawn up at the start of the year would not be possibly achieved and that a revision of goal was imminent.

This was somewhat mirrored by Elizabeth Lee, Chamber of Automotive Manufacturers of the Philippines Inc. president:

“Although the supply of vehicles to date is ample to meet the market demand at this time, common problems across brand makes are starting to affect the production of vehicles locally,” she said, adding that common issues include logistics and the disruption to the supply chain for some key parts.

It seems that it’s better to have lower expectations of sales rather than higher at this point of the year after how the Japan quake has affected the local auto industry.

Article via: Manila Standard Today | Image via: Open for Business

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If you or anyone you know has a Ford that is out of warranty, then you should check this out.

Ford Group Philippines (FGP) is offering service and original parts for out of warranty Ford car owners.

“In addition to providing world-class Ford vehicles, we continuously aim to further enhance and improve our already best-in-class customer service experience,” said David Macasadia, vice president of Ford’s customer service division. “This new campaign will help further strengthen our leading cost-of-ownership equation, and help our customers continue to feel the difference of today’s Ford.”

But that’s not all, they’ll also give free oil filters to those who’ll avail of periodic maintenance service within May.

All of this is only available for the following models bought within 2004 to 2007:

• Escape
• Focus
• Ranger
• Everest

Article via: Top Gear PH | Image By Bull-Doser (Own work.) [Public domain], via Wikimedia Commons

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Good news for the moment? Honda Car Philippines Inc. (HCPI) promises that there won’t be any price hike because of the low supply of car parts coming from Japan.

However, they won’t say until when the price will remain at the same rate.

“Everything is unstable at the moment,” Natsume said. Aside from the shortness in supply, he noted that the price will be dependent on foreign exchange, prices of materials and oil.

So if you’re thinking of buying that Honda vehicle, you’d better do it now as the prices of its cars may go up in the coming months.

Article via: Philippine Star | Image by StaraBlazkova at the Czech language Wikipedia [GFDL or CC-BY-SA-3.0], from Wikimedia Commons

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Eventhough the Japan quake happened over a month ago, the economic effects are still being felt across the shores; and the Philippines is one of them.

It has certainly affected the car manufacturers such as Honda and Ford, and they’ve done some measures to alleviate the effects. Toyota Motors Philippines (TMP) is doing its own share by not laying off anyone, but instead implementing a 3 day workweek.

Under the adjusted work schedules, the TMP production workers at its Sta. Rosa plant will operate three days on two shifts from a five-day work week on two shift operation. While the other workers go on regular shift, the others would be undergoing some training, rotate their shifts, among others.

The schedule implementation will depend on when the plants at Japan will resume full operation, reportedly at latest June this year.

[Article via: Manila Bulletin |Image via: StaraBlazcova (CC by-SA 3.0)]

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You might be seeing lesser Honda cars being sold this year. According to Honda Cars Philippines Inc. (HCPI), it will be cutting production by half because of the damage done to the manufacturing plants in Japan as we mentioned last time.

Honda will continue to hold it together as much as they can. Despite all the problems, Honda teams throughout the Oceania region will do what they can to help alleviate the car parts issue. The Sayama Plant and Suzuka Factory will resume production of finished vehicles on April 11.

The company just resumed its production and shipping of component parts yesterday.

[Article via: The Philippine Star | Image via Wikimedia Commons (Public Domain)]

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With aggressive auto programs from other ASEAN countries, the Philippines auto industry is in danger of losing much of its business.

Ford Group Philippines (FGP) decision on whether to stay or not in the country depends solely on the government’s auto industry roadmap. According to FGP President, Randy Krieger, Executive Order 877-A, or the Comprehensive Motor Vehicle Development Program is crucial in their stay here.

For vehicle manufacturers to stay here, we should know what the government wants to do and is doing.

Next year, the Ford Focus manufacturing will be transferred from the PH to Thailand. The Escape and Mazda 3 will continue to be manufactured here.

[Article via: Philippine Daily Inquirer |Image via: Ford]

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We mentioned last time that local car manufacturers were having supply problems due to the Japan Quake. If one can’t get them imported, then it’ll have to be sourced from the local suppliers.

According to Trade Undersecretary and Board of Investments managing head Cristino Panlilio:

“I talked with some of the car assemblers in the Philippines and I gave them an option to locally source parts and components to avoid disruptions in the supply chain,”

The effect could very well be that prices of local car supplies will go down and the imported ones will go up. As of the moment, the local sector is only operating at 60 percent capacity. However, with more demands to come in the next few days, they’ll have to increase it even further.

[Article via: Manila Standard Today | Image via: Yuichiro Haga]

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The Japanese massive earthquake and tsunami damaged not only Japan, but also its economic structure as its car manufacturing sector also took a large hit–resulting in a tsunami of its own reaching even the Philippines.

Local car manufacturers are having a hard time getting parts to complete cars since Japanese car manufacturers are still assessing the damage wrought upon their areas. Damage to the structure and supplies may take some time.

All the Japanese car manufacturers were affected, some more than others. Honda Motor Corp. had more than a hundred suppliers located near the quake and tsunami centers. It just recently resumed operations. Toyota Motor Corp. would be less affected since most of their parts makers were located in the northeast side of Japan. Mitsubishi Motors fared the best since they are the farthest from the epicenter.

[Article via : MB | Image via: Inautonews]

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