Automotive industry grows by 17 pct

MANILA, Philippines (Xinhua) - The Philippine automotive industry grew by 17.89 percent to 102,913 units in the first seven months of 2013 from 87,374 units during the same period in 2012, the Chamber of Automotive Manufacturers of the Philippines, Inc. ( CAMPI) and the Truck manufacturers Association (TMA), announced today.

"The country's continued strong performance earning it the title of being the new tiger economy augers well for the industry. Surely we are now on the road to full motorization," said Chamber President Rommel Gutierrez.

Based on a joint report, the two automotive manufacturing groups reported that passenger car sales grew 33,098 units from January to July 2013, up by 26.1 percent over the previous year's 26,244 units.

Commercial vehicle sales also increased by 14.2 percent to 69, 815 units from 61,130 units while Asian utility vehicles were also up by 2 percent to 23,670 units from 23,215 units.

Sales of light commercial vehicles registered a 21.3 percent increase over last year to 43,437 units from 35,799 units.

Light trucks, on the other hand, posted sales of 1,582 units, higher by 24.3 percent from 1,273 units in 2012.

Sales of trucks and buses also increased by 33.6 percent to 1, 126 units from 843 units in the previous year.

Meanwhile, total July sales reached 15,686 units, 10 percent higher than June sales of 14,239 units and 8 percent higher than July 2012 sales of 14,503 units.

The groups expect to sell an average of 15,500 per month or additional 93,000 units for the second semester to attain total sales of more than 180,000 units, 5 percent higher than the group' s original projection of 172,000 units for 2013.

The industry is expected to exceed the original 200,000 sales target and eventually achieve 210,000 units.