Philippines remains 2nd fastest vehicle market in ASEAN

MANILA, Philippines — The Philippines remained the second fastest growing market for motor vehicle assembly and sales in Southeast Asia, posting double-digit growth in the nine months to September.

Data from the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) Automotive Federation showed 63,341 motor vehicles were manufactured in the Philippines as of end-September, 35.8 percent higher than the 46,628 units in the same period last year.

The Philippines trailed Indonesia, which posted the highest motor vehicle output growth at 64.4 percent in the nine-month period.

Other ASEAN neighbors that registered higher motor vehicle output during the period are Thailand (25.9 percent) and Vietnam (13.7 percent).

Those which manufactured fewer motor vehicle units, meanwhile, are Myanmar (-88.1 percent) and Malaysia (-3.7 percent).

ASEAN rolled out 2.49 million motor vehicle units in the nine-month period, a 29.7 percent increase from 1.92 million units the previous year.

The Philippines also placed second in terms of motor vehicle sales, selling 191,605 units as of end-September, 29.5 percent higher than the 148,012 units sold in the same period a year ago.

Indonesia again ranked first as its motor vehicle sales jumped 68.7 percent.

Other countries which saw motor vehicle sales increase are Singapore (19.5 percent) and Vietnam (5.5 percent).

On the other hand, those with lower motor vehicle sales for the nine-month period are Myanmar (-51.2 percent), Malaysia (-7.3 percent) and Thailand (-0.5 percent).

As of end-September, total motor vehicles sold in ASEAN rose 17.2 percent to 1.91 million units from the previous year’s 1.63 million units.

The same data showed the Philippines remained the leading market for motorcycle output and sales as it posted the highest growth in the ASEAN.

Motorcycles assembled in Philippine plants grew 55.5 percent to 639,268 units in the nine-month period from 411,143 units last year.

Thailand’s motorcycle output climbed 14.9 percent year-on-year, while Malaysia’s went up 0.1 percent in the same period.

ASEAN manufactured 2.24 million motorcycle units in the nine-month period from 1.85 million units the previous year.

Philippine motorcycle sales went up 29.2 percent to 1.04 million units in the January to September period from 807,020 units a year ago.

Singapore came in second as its motorcycle sales grew 15.2 percent, while Thailand placed third with a 4.9 percent increase.

Meanwhile, Malaysia’s motorcycle sales dipped two percent.

As of end-September, total motorcycle sales in ASEAN climbed 12.5 percent to 2.58 million units from 2.29 million units a year ago.