Compared to Thailand and Malaysia, the automotive industry in the Philippines has achieved relatively limited success in terms of producing a competitive motor vehicle and creating linkages in the local automotive parts sector. Although passenger cars and commercial vehicles manufactured in the Philippines may not be as competitive as their Thai and Malaysian counterparts, there is a lot of growth potential in the parts and components manufacturing sector in this country as reflected by its strong export performance over the past few years. Identifying the automotive parts and components where the country is competitive will help establish a market niche for the Philippines so that it can consequently become the production base for these products initially within ASEAN and ultimately in the entire Asia Pacific region.
