The Philippines may be a tiny market for cars when looking at the worldwide picture, but the future looks promising for the ASEAN market. That market is expected to be the 8th largest in the world by 2015. No carmaker that hopes to dominate sales can ignore Southeast Asia, and many companies are setting up or expanding its facilities in the area.
For its part, Ford Motor Company returned to the Philippines in a sweeping move worthy of Douglas McArthur, establishing not just a sales unit but extensive manufacturing facilities. The PHP4-billion peso plant in Sta. Rosa, Laguna, began operations in September 1999, with a capacity of 25,000 vehicles per year. The first vehicles to roll of the line were Lynxes and Rangers. The plant employs 527 “partners” on the assembly line. Of course, the plant also benefits thousands of employees of local companies which supply Ford; it is also the biggest purchaser of automotive parts in the country.
The Ford Vehicle Export Program began shipping vehicles Lynxes and Mazda 323s in March 2002. Ranger assembly was moved to Thailand, making way for the assembly of the Escape and Mazda Tribute SUVs. Escapes and Tributes were exported starting September 2002.
The plant has complete facilities for vehicle assembly, including an advanced painting facility. It earned an ISO 14001 rating, assuring the quality of vehicles. This year, the plant expects to manufacture and ship a total of 5500 vehicles to Thailand and nearly 1200 units to Indonesia. This is merely the beginning, as export volumes are expected to be more than eight-fold within the next five years.
By Jason Ang | Photos By Jason Ang
Originally Published in the November 2002 Issue
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