Car production zooms by 29 percent in 10 months

MANILA, Philippines — Motor vehicle production in the Philippines maintained its position as the fastest-growing in the ASEAN region, achieving a 28.5-percent growth in the first 10 months.

Based on data from the Association of Southeast Asian Nations Automotive Federation (AAF), 94,838 motor vehicles were assembled in the Philippines from January to October, significantly higher than the 73,823 units produced in the same period last year.

Despite the increase over the 10-month period, the expansion of the Philippines’ motor vehicle production slowed in October, recording a modest 0.9 percent increase with the production of 10,200 units. This marks a deceleration from the 19.7 percent growth rate observed in September.

After the Philippines, Malaysia recorded the second-highest growth during the 10-month period at 12.8 percent.

Thailand experienced a 0.6 percent growth. Myanmar witnessed the most significant decline at 62.3 percent, while Vietnam and Indonesia also faced contractions of 28.6 percent and 1.6 percent, respectively, during the same period.

This was followed by Malaysia with a 12.2 percent increase.

The Philippines also posted the highest growth rate in motor vehicle sales at 25.9 percent, selling a total of 352,971 units, higher than the 280,300 units sold in the same period a year ago.

This was followed by Malaysia with a 12.2 percent increase.

In contrast, Myanmar posted the largest decline in motor vehicle sales at 58.8 percent.

Three other ASEAN countries also posted declines in motor vehicle sales during the period: Vietnam (29.3 percent), Singapore (15.5 percent), Thailand (7.5 percent) and Indonesia (1.8 percent).

Motor vehicle sales in ASEAN declined by 1.2 percent to 2.75 million units in the first 10 months from 2.78 million in the same period last year.

Data from the AAF also showed that the Philippines’ motorcycle and scooter production jumped by 30.2 percent to 1.05 million units, the highest growth among ASEAN countries tracked by AAF.

This was followed by Indonesia and Thailand with growth of 19.3 percent and 8.0 percent, respectively.

On the other hand, Vietnam posted a 26.8 percent decline in motorcycle and scooter production as well as Malaysia with a 13.6 percent decline.

Motorcycles and scooters assembled within the ASEAN jumped by 4.8 percent to 10.987 million units from 10.482 million units in the previous year.

Moreover, AFF data showed that the Philippines registered a 0.5 percent decline in motorcycle and scooter sales in the 10 months through October to 1.305 million units.

Indonesia posted the highest increase in motorcycle and scooter sales at 26.2 percent, to 5.26 million units. This was followed by Thailand with a 5.7 percent increase in motorcycle and scooter sales.

In contrast, Vietnam posted the biggest decline in motorcycle and scooter sales at 23.9 percent. This was followed by Malaysia and Singapore with a 15.4 percent decline and 0.5 percent decline, respectively.