Zero tariffs for imported hybrid cars pushed

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Five foreign chambers of commerce are pushing for the inclusion of hybrid cars in the government’s plan to implement a five-year zero duty scheme on imported electric vehicles, citing the importance of its inclusion in the new tax policy expected to be approved soon by President Marcos.

“First of all, we applaud the government for these initiatives. It’s the first country in Asean (Association of Southeast Asian Nations) to allow zero import duty on foreign electrical vehicles. The reason we bring it up is because we also want to include hybrid cars and not only from Asia or Asean but also from Europe,” European Chamber of Commerce of the Philippines president Lars Wittig said at a press conference last week.

Acts as bridge

For his part, Bradley Norman, president of the Australia-New Zealand Chamber of Commerce of the Philippines, said: “It would certainly be great if it applied to hybrid as well because that tends to be the bridge between full fossil fuel mode of vehicles to electric vehicles. Some of us are not quite sure about electric vehicles (EVs) and would go with hybrids.”

American Chamber of Commerce of the Philippines (AmCham) executive director Ebb Hinchcliffe also echoed the sentiment of the two, citing the wide use of hybrid cars, citing Sri Lanka in particular, where he said most people are using hybrid cars.

“Until we have the ability to manufacture EVs in the country, then for sure we should be able to have zero import duty on all [electric] vehicles coming in. And I just wish it had been [for] hybrids,” the AmCham official said. INQ

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