Mitsubishi plans to make the Philippines an export hub for Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) region, according to a report by the Manila Bulletin. The automaker plans to increase the capacity of its Santa Rosa plant to 100,000 units per annum to enable it to export the Mirage hatchback and Mirage G4 sedan (also known as the Attrage globally) to the rest of the ASEAN region, according to Chairman and CEO Osamu Masuko.
Significance: Earlier this month, the Philippine government approved the applications from Mitsubishi to participate in the country’s Comprehensive Automotive Resurgence Strategy (CARS) programme . Under the programme, Mitsubishi announced that it will invest PHP4.3 billion (USD93.11 million) in its Philippine unit to begin production of its Mirage and Mirage G4 from 2017. On 17 June, the automaker held a groundbreaking ceremony for a new PHP2-billion stamping plant in Santa Rosa. The move to increase the capacity of the plant to 100,000 units will require additional investment as the current capacity of plant is 50,000 units. The automaker assembled around 16,428 units in the country in 2015, as is expected to assemble around 17,389 units in 2016 (5.8% y/y), according to IHS Automotive data.
