By Anna Gabriela A. Mogato

THE AYALA group will start exporting its locally produced KTM motorcycles to Thailand by year-end, and to China by February 2018.

Arthur Tan, president and CEO of AC Industrial Technology Holdings, said around 300 motorcycle units will be initially shipped to Thailand by December.

“By December, we’re going to start our first shipments to Thailand. First shipment is very few but it’s historical… It’s only like 300 bikes,” Mr. Tan, who is also CEO of Integrated Microelectronics, Inc. (IMI), said in an interview last Friday in Makati City.

The company’s plans to export KTM motorcycles to China this year were delayed due to some certification requirements, Mr. Tan said.

“[There’s] no anticipated issue [anymore], so we plan to push that back by a couple of months so now instead of December to ship to China, we’re going to be shipping in February,” he said.

Despite the delay, Mr. Tan said the company will not adjust its target of exporting 10,000 motorcycle units to China.

“The original plan is up to 10,000 to China but we’re not going to hit that in the first year, right? But eventually we plan to export up to 10,000,” he said.

AC Industrials is the parent company of KTM Asia Motorcycle Manufacturing, Inc., the joint venture of the Ayala Group and KTM Asia.

IMI, also under AC Industrials, built the state-of-the-art manufacturing facility for KTM motorcycles in Laguna.

“[W]hen we do it, it requires less number of people. We have higher level of product knowledge and process knowledge compared to them so that our ramp up for quality and yield is significantly faster that’s why we’re able to do it more competitively,” Mr. Tan said of the Laguna facility.

For next year, Mr. Tan said the company is targeting to sell 4,000 motorcycles in the local market, and another 4,000 units overseas.

“In terms of KTM and the manufacturing, yeah we are [on the right track]. Still very bullish that we did the right thing and it now shows that the Philippines can be competitive in the vehicle manufacturing model,” he said.

At present, Mr. Tan said the company has 21 KTM dealerships in the country, and targets to end the year with 24.

Adventure Cycle Philippines, Inc. (ACPI), a subsidiary of AC Industrials, is the official distributor of KTM motorcycles in the Philippines.

For the first nine months of 2017, IMI’s attributable profit jumped to $24.09 million, 15% up from the same period in 2016. Revenues for the period meanwhile grew 29% to $795.2 million.

The company attributed the increase to a rise in the demand for its automotive and industrial products. Its operations in Europe and Mexico for instance saw a 15% year-on-year growth in revenues in the January to September period due to higher demand for automotive lighting.

On Friday, shares in IMI went up by 3.3% to P18.80 each.

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