Vehicle sales slump continues

MANILA, Philippines — The Chamber of Automotive Manufacturers of the Philippines Inc. (CAMPI) and the Truck Manufacturers Association Inc. (TMA) saw continued sales decline by 13.3 percent in the January to October period from a year ago as demand for cars remained weak.

A joint report of CAMPI and TMA released yesterday showed sales reached 294,207 units as of end-October, down from 339,380 units last year.

Passenger car sales for the January to October period fell 20 percent to 90,522 units from 113,341 units in the previous year.

Sales of commercial vehicles also slid 9.9 percent to 203,685 units in the 10-month period from 226,039 units a year ago.

For the month of October alone, CAMPI and TMA’s sales, which reached 33,150 vehicles, dropped 9.2 percent from 36,511 units last year.

Compared to the previous month’s 31,116 units, CAMPI and TMA’s sales in October grew 6.5 percent.

Car sales in October reached 9,444 units, 19.2 percent lower than the previous year’s 11,686 units.

CAMPI and TMA’s comercial sales also slipped 4.5 percent to 23,706 units from 24,825 units a year ago.

Toyota Motor Philippines Corp. remained the top automotive firm in the country as it accounted for 42.26 percent of the market as of end-October.

This was followed by Mitsubishi Motors Philippines Corp. in second place with a 19.24 percent share, and Nissan Philippines Inc. at the third spot with 9.59 percent.

Getting the fourth and fifth spots were Ford Motor Co. Philippines Inc. and Honda Cars Philippines Inc. with respective shares of 6.7 percent and 6.6 percent.

While sales as of end-October are still down compared to the same period last year, CAMPI is encouraged by the growth in sales posted month-on-month.

CAMPI president Rommel Gutierrez said the positive growth seen month-on-month in October is due to aggressive market promotions and the availability of new model units following the recently held 7th Philippine International Motor Show (PIMS).

“We remain optimistic that sales growth will be sustained in November, as we expect more sales from PIMS will be delivered this month,” CAMPI said.

Earlier, Gutierrez said the group expects this year’s sales to be 10 to 15 percent lower than last year’s 425,673 units due to rising inflation and the higher taxes slapped on vehicles affecting consumer demand.

For next year, the group is hopeful sales would recover and grow.