MANILA, Philippines – Ayala Corp. is looking to acquire a foreign engine maker in a bid to add more fuel to its automotive and manufacturing portfolio.
“If I will wait for someone to bring it here, that would take quite a while. What I plan is to take over a company that makes the engine and bring it here. They don’t want to come here, (then) we buy them and move them here,” AC Industrial Technology Holdings Inc. chief executive officer Arthur Tan said in a press briefing yesterday.
Tan is referring to the engines of KTM motorcycles to be manufactured locally starting next year.
“We want to prove that the Philippines can be a hub not only in ASEAN but also for the world that we can provide competitively, a complete product designed, built and manufactured here in the Philippines and be competitive on a global basis,” he said.
The Ayala Group last April announced a joint venture with Austria-based KTM AG for the distribution and manufacturing of KTM motorcycles in the Philippines.
The motorcycles will be assembled and manufactured in a facility in Laguna, with about 70 percent of the output exported to China and the rest sold locally.
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Tan said the venture is AC Industrials’ initial step into larger undertakings that include vehicle and big bike manufacturing.
“I want to be the first motorcycle manufacturing plant in Asia that builds the big bikes. Not even Thailand can claim that, not even Vietnam can claim that. The most expensive bikes, I want them to be built here,” he said.
“Then next is definitely four wheels,” added Tan, noting the company is currently in talks with foreign automotive brands to bring into the country.
“We want to look on a foreign brand that already has a brand value,” he said.
Currently, Ayala Automotive has 1,900 employees nationwide and 22 dealerships.
Tan said the group is not planning to race for the third and final slot of the government’s incentive program called Comprehensive Automotive Resurgence Strategy (CARS).
“CARS will not work for us. We need a different program, something that incentivizes technology and innovation rather than volume,” he said.
