A joint venture of Toyota Motor Philippines Corp. and Aisin Seiki Co. Ltd. plans to manufacture automatic transmission boxes in the Philippines to complement manual transmission production.
Toyota Autoparts Philippines Inc., which manufactures parts and accessories for Toyota in its facility in Sta. Rosa, Laguna, will invest in AT production and will be renamed Toyota Aisin Phils. Inc.
This followed the signing of a P1.2-billion share swap agreement between TMP and Aisin Seiki Co. Ltd. in Toyota Autoparts Philippines Inc.
Aisin infused P1.2 billion in TAP to become the majority shareholder with 61 percent, up from 34 percent ownership, while Toyota’s stake will drop to 34 percent from 61 percent.
Aisin said it decided to increase its share in TAP to strengthen its competitiveness by consolidating the manual transmission functions of Toyota, allowing for more efficient allocation of resources.
The P1.2-billion additional capital infusion will be used to partly fund the establishment of the automatic transmission in the Philippines, it said.
Aisin said it would step up efforts to further improve TAP’s competitiveness in transmissions to support business expansion.
It made a partial equity investment in TAP in 2016, as a part of its overseas MT business and participated in the management of TAP’s business operations.
TAP served as one of Toyota’s global MT supply bases.
TAP invested P5.6 billion in 2018 to increase capacity and an additional P2.5 billion in 2015 to start producing new 6-speed MTs.