By Justine Irish D. Tabile, Reporter

TOYOTA MOTOR Philippines Corp. (TMP) aims to achieve monthly sales of up to 1,800 units for its New Generation Tamaraw, according to its president.

“After 2004, we [discontinued] commercial vehicles like Tamaraw. And this market is dominated by Mitsubishi, Hyundai, and others,” TMP President Masando Hashimoto told reporters on Thursday.

“We are quite behind now and quite challenged, so we need to learn more from L300 and H100. This is what we have to do to develop the image of Toyota in this specific category,” he added.

Despite this, he said that the company is targeting to sell around 1,500 to 1,800 units of the new Tamaraw each month.

Alfred V. Ty, chairman of TMP, said that the Next Generation Tamaraw commercial vehicle, particularly the short-wheelbase drop-side gas variant, will have a starting price of below P800,000.

“We need to wait for the January release of sales for the fixed price, but that is the range. Depending on the conversion they want, that can go up to P1.5 million to P4 million,” Mr. Ty said.

“Complemented by flexible financing schemes tailored to the real-life needs of working Filipinos and micro, small, and medium enterprises, we aim to empower businesses and individuals to achieve their dreams and actively contribute to the nation’s progress,” he added.

He said that TMP will already start the production of the new Tamaraw, which is expected to be one of the brand’s top three best sellers, to build the inventory for the release in January.

“Next week the display will start in different locations already,” he added.

PRODUCTIONThe car manufacturer’s headquarters in Laguna, where it invested P5.5 billion for the production of the new Tamaraw, has the capacity to produce 60,000 cars annually.

“The production [of the Next Generation Tamaraw] will be around 20,000 in a year. So, we are expecting 1,500 to 1,800 units monthly,” said Mr. Hashimoto.

“But we have a total capacity of more than 60,000 in this facility. So we can adjust and balance between three models,” he added.

Prior to the launch of the Next Generation Tamaraw, TMP produced Vios and Innova in its plant at Toyota Special Economic Zone in Sta. Rosa City, Laguna.

Out of its P5.5-billion investment, the company made an investment of P1.1 billion for the new conversion facility in the plant.

According to the company, the new Tamaraw model has three body-type conversions available: utility van (UV), aluminum van, and drop-side.

Asked which conversion he believes will sell best in the country, Mr. Hashimoto said that it will be the UV “as the car is for both goods and people, so it is really versatile.”

“I think this is our focus model among all the variants,” he added.

Besides the Philippines, Toyota’s Next Generation Tamaraw is also being produced in Thailand.

“Exporting would be a very good opportunity for us,” Mr. Hashimoto said, noting that the initial target of the production in the Philippines is for domestic sales.

“But in the future, I want to expand our business abroad. Thailand and many Asian countries have the right-hand drive… So we can have a mix. Left-hand for the Philippines, right-hand for Thailand. That would be the possibility in the future,” he added.

However, he said that to make the export happen, the company will have to increase the localization of the Next Generation Tamaraw, which is currently at around 25%.

“As of today, we are importing lots of car parts from Thailand. But to make export possible, we need more localization. Meaning we need to invest more in our facility and the supplier’s facility,” he said.

Moving forward, he said that if the company plans to further expand the models produced in its facility in Laguna, it will be the commercial and heavy-duty vehicles that utilize the chassis for diesel engines that have a higher possibility than other passenger cars.