By Monico D. Mekaniko
MAKATI CITY, METRO MANILA – If you want to know more about eco-friendly or “green” cars, you might want to visit this year’s Philippine International Motor Show.
Riding on the success of the Philippine government’s “It’s more fun in the Philippines” campaign, the Chamber of Automotive Manufacturers of the Philippines (CAMPI) is promising to have “more fun the fourth time around” with the upcoming motor show to be held from August 16 to 19 at the World Trade Center in Pasay City.
Among the focus of this year’s event include fuel efficient, eco-friendly vehicles, as well as continue to build the country's automotive manufacturing and assembly industry.
During his speech, CAMPI President Rommel Gutierrez stressed one of the organization's major advocacies, “My Ride+Earth,” which is an information drive on the car care that would help lessen carbon production and to mitigate one of the causes of climate change.
“Through this campaign, in our own small way, we can help spread awareness, provide information, help increase our understanding on what we as individuals can do to help mitigate climate change by lowering our carbon footprint through healthier daily habits that not only help save the environment, but help save money as well,” Gutierrez said.
One of the major programs of CAMPI in the coming years is to help grow the local automotive industry. Gutierrez said they are working closely with the government to draft the new Motor Vehicle Development Program (MVDP) wherein the government will provide tariff and tax incentives to pump operations of local assemblers and manufacturers.
Gutierrez said that by working with the government, CAMPI would be able to strengthen the industry and continue becoming a major contributor to domestic economy.
Citing figures from the Department of Trade and Industry (DTI), Gutierrez said the local automotive contributed four percent to the country's GDP for 2011.
Prior to 2011, the industry had investments of around P120 billion and generated 68,000 jobs. Add to this the 340,000 workers from ancillary industries that are connected to the auto industry. Total exports for 2010 also reached $3.8 billion. “These glowing numbers give us at CAMPI more reason to be optimistic in achieving our targets in the industry road map, as well as ending the year with record-breaking sales,” Gutierrez said.
Till next time, this is Monico D. Mekaniko, Va-va-vroom!
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