MANILA (The Thursday Times) — Pakistani automaker Sazgar Engineering Works has opened a manufacturing plant in the Philippines, with President Ferdinand Marcos Jr. inaugurating the factory on Friday in the company’s first expansion into Southeast Asia.
The plant in Laguna province, south of Manila, is designed to assemble about 12,000 three-wheelers a year, including both electric and petrol models, for passenger and commercial use.
“That is the kind of investment that we want, not just companies that sell to the Filipinos but companies that make things with the Filipinos,” Marcos said at the inauguration. He said the factory would strengthen the country’s manufacturing base, create jobs and open business for local suppliers of batteries, rubber and lubricants, and support a shift to cleaner transport.
Marcos said the electric three-wheelers could travel between 100 and 210 kilometres on a single charge, enough to cover a full day of trips without petrol.
Pakistan’s embassy in Manila, which helped facilitate the investment, said “Pakistan-made three-wheelers have entered the Philippine market”, and Ambassador Asima Rabbani congratulated the company.
Lahore-based Sazgar, founded in 1991, is one of Pakistan’s largest rickshaw makers and in 2024 became the first company in the country licensed to produce electric three-wheelers. It has since expanded into four-wheelers, assembling SUVs at its Lahore plant.
