$57mln Of Ford Motor

Ford Motor Co. Philippines expects to generate foreign exchange earnings of around $57 million this year from the export of Escape and Lynx models to other countries in Asia.

Ford invests an additional P700 million to support the export production of the Escape and Lynx models.

Such incredible investments can be explained by the wish of the company to strenthern its domestic market base.

The company is going to improve parts supply base capability as well as the infrastructure and logistics capability both within the Philippines and intra-ASEAN.

Ford Philippines is eyeing shipments of 6,000 vehicles to Thailand and Indonesia this year.

For 2003, Ford plans to export another 12,000 vehicles for a total of 65,000 vehicles within the next five years. The export of Escape and Lynx models to Indonesia and Thailand is under the ASEAN Industrial Cooperation or AICO program where the participants are able to enjoy preferential tariff of zero to five percent.

Even with the implementation of the AFTA next year, AICO participants are still hoping to continue with the program by dropping the preferential tariff to zero compared to AFTA effective rates of between zero and five percent.

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