TOYOTA Motor Philippines on Thursday said it believed that the government‘s incentive program for local manufacturers of vehicles and parts, or the Revitalizing the Automotive Industry for Competitiveness Enhancement (RACE), would‘ve continued the success of its predecessor, the successful Comprehensive Automotive Resurgence Strategy (CARS).
“We anticipated RACE to be another win-win collaboration and industry lifeline program, which could enable customers to enjoy competitive pricing for vehicles with an ever-better powertrain technology, whether internal combustion or electrified,” Toyota said in a statement.
“Local automotive manufacturing is a key economic driver with its multiplier effect in employment generation, original equipment manufacturer (OEM) supplier investments, technology transfer, and manpower skills upgrade.”
The RACE program aimed to provide P9 billion in fiscal support for the domestic production of three specific four-wheel, internal-combustion engine models. Participants were required to produce 100,000 units of a registered model, a lower threshold than the 200,000 units in the previous CARS program.
Toyota and Mitsubishi Philippines were supposed to avail of RACE for the next-generation Tamaraw and Xpander, respectively.
But on April 9, Trade Secretary Cristina Roque said RACE has been dropped, and that the government will instead focus on the Electric Vehicle Incentives Strategy (EVIS).
What RACE was up against was that its funding was part of unprogrammed appropriations in the P6.793-trillion 2026 national budget which President Ferdinand Marcos Jr. vetoed amid public uproar over the the public works corruption scandal.
Marcos rejected P4.32 billion meant for CARS and P250 million for RACE, although the government said it would honor remaining financial obligations to CARS participants Toyota and Mitsubishi.
On the other hand, the Department of Trade and Industry wants EVIS to roll out of 9 million locally made electric vehicles — including two-wheelers, three-wheelers, passenger cars, buses, and trucks — by 2040, as well as the deployment of 400,000 charging stations nationwide.
The program is seen to draw P120 billion in investments, create 680,000 jobs, and yield P11.4 trillion in economic output.
For its part, Toyota said it is “one with the government in moving forward and navigating today’s economic challenges amid the global energy security situation.”
Toyota, alongside Mitsubishi, participated in the CARS program.
