Since the start of the year, the Philippine automotive sector has been wary about the negative effects of the government’s new tax reform package. The Tax Reform for Acceleration and Inclusion (TRAIN) seeks to raise revenues by increasing taxes on goods such as automobiles and fuel products. Thus, we have seen a slew of car models becoming more expensive these past few months.
Yet not everyone sees the TRAIN in a negative way. Luxury carmakers such as Volvo Philippines is optimistic that the new law will help its sales. That’s because vehicles priced over P3 million will be slapped with lower tariffs. And most of Volvo’s offerings are within or above this price bracket.
Beyond the prices, however, Volvo is very vocal about its bid to roll out electrified vehicles beginning in 2019. The Swedish carmaker has said it will field either plug-in hybrid or fully electrified vehicles within the next few years.
And with the TRAIN law granting tax exemptions to such types of vehicles, Volvo sees this as an opportunity to not only sell more vehicles but to offer environment-friendly ones at that. This will help our country become a lot cleaner and greener, it says.
With this in mind, we do hope that Volvo’s along with the government’s own efforts to make alternative fueled mobility a reality be truly successful.
