11/19/2014 – Bacolod City | Three years from now, the Philippines has something to be proud of when talking about auto brands. Japan has four major auto brands in Toyota, Honda, Mitsubishi, and Nissan, not to mention any other brands like Suzuki and Hino. South Korea has Hyundai, Daewoo, and Kia; China and India have lots of auto brands. Philippines has none.
The agony is over though. Philippines is ready to manufacture its first ever local auto brand after WIPO (World Intellectual Property Organization), approves Chariot Motors’ application.
Chariot Motors is a Jeepney assembly company in Bacolod City that is responsible in building more than 70{8557784a2da8b2c8073bd9dd648eaa5a4f559c05f23aadf80752adfb7996a786} of medium-size passenger vehicles in the whole Negros Island.
Engineer-owners Julio Paredes and Mario Racide built a prototype two years ago and submitted the design to DOST, but the government agency did not support the plan and rejected the project. The pair did not lose hope and submitted the design to Cummins, an American engine manufacturer for trucks and heavy equipment.
The prototype is a 2-door sedan with diesel engine to be specially manufactured by Cummins. This will be the first time that Cummins will produce small engines for cars.
The pair was successful in convincing investors after the second prototype was displayed at Cummins headquarters in Columbus, Indiana, USA. The trademark “Parac” was successfully registered by WIPO and the design is already patented in US under the pair’s names.
Parac has a double meaning. It is a combination of the engineers’ last names “Paredes-Racide, and also means “police” in local term.
According to the news received by the Philippine Pride from Racide, the company is scheduled to start building its main manufacturing plant on May 2015. The planned 27 hectares of assembly plant in Silay-Talisay area will be capable of making 80 to 120 units of cars a day for Philippine market only starting 2018, according to Racide.
The company will not only produce cars but also heavy duty trucks, buses, and heavy equipment. Only Vallacar Transit, the owner of Ceres Liner, is making buses in the province for the company’s use, but news said that Ceres will team-up with Parac to expedite the process.
Most of the parts will be produced locally except for tires and engines which will be imported from US.
The prototype has 160hp diesel engine and is more powerful than Honda Civic, but will cost lower at around 550 thousand pesos.
It was reported earlier that French manufacturer Peugeot offered to buy the design and patent for unspecified amount, but the pair rejected the offer and pursued local brand and production.
Once the main plant is completed, it is also expected that the company will hire more than 50,000 factory workers for mass production.
“Since Negros is already the Sugar Capital of the Philippines, we will add another name and will make this Metro Bacolod as the Motor City, in addition to City of Smiles”, Paredes told reporters at Bacolod-Silay Airport during their arrival from US on Monday morning”
See Also: PH is World’s Biggest Dump Site: Customs Seizes 50 Containers of Used Adult Diapers from Canada
/Perla Yasan/ Assisted Press Bacolod
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