Bad weather sinks car sales, but xEVs zoom

MANILA, Philippines — Heavy rainfall and flooding led to an 18-percent decline in overall vehicle sales in August from a year ago, but demand for electrified vehicles (xEVs) remained resilient with sales accelerating by over 200 percent.

The Chamber of Automotive Manufacturers of the Philippines Inc. (CAMPI) and Truck Manufacturers Association (TMA)’s joint report showed that combined sales fell to 29,611 units in August from 36,174 units in the same month last year.

Including estimates from other brands not part of CAMPI and TMA, total Philippine vehicle industry sales reached 34,390 units in August.

While both the passenger car (PC) and commercial vehicle (CV) segments declined year-on-year, xEV sales continued to charge ahead.

In particular, PC sales slid by 11 percent to 6,784 units in August from 7,591 units last year.

CV sales posted a bigger drop of 20 percent to 22,827 units in August from the previous year’s 28,583 units.

On the other hand, sales of xEVs surged by 215 percent to 7,066 units in August from 2,244 units in the same month in 2025. This does not include sales of non-CAMPI members like BYD.

Within the xEV segment, plug-in hybrid electric vehicles (PHEVs) posted the biggest year-on-year growth of 462 percent to 1,617 units in August.

Battery EVs (BEVs) placed second with a 271-percent year-on-year increase in sales to 2,449 units, while HEV sales jumped by 132 percent year-on-year to 3,000 units.

While the market recovery seen in June and July was dampened by the adverse weather conditions that disrupted dealership operations and consumer activities in August, CAMPI remains optimistic that demand will improve and rebound in the remaining months of the year.

“We’re still optimistic that vehicle sales will bounce back over the next few months through year-end. The August dip appears to be a short-term disruption rather than a reversal of market momentum,” CAMPI president Jose Maria Atienza said.

From January to August, CAMPI and TMA’s total sales went down by 11 percent to 271,336 units from 305,381 units in the same period of 2025.

CAMPI and TMA’s PC sales slid by 10 percent to 55,030 units as of end-August from 61,358 units in the same period last year.

CV sales declined by 11 percent to 216,306 units in the eight-month period from the previous year’s 244,023 units.

The xEV segment posted a 146-percent growth in sales from January to August, to 45,403 units from 18,439 units in the same period in 2025.

PHEV sales saw massive growth of 1,420 percent year-on-year to 8,756 units as of end-August.

BEV sales surged by 293 percent on 12,883 units in the eight-month period from 3,278 units last year.

HEV sales jumped by 63 percent to 23,764 units in the January to August period from the previous year’s 14,585 units.

Including other industry data, CAMPI and TMA estimate total industry xEV sales to have reached 74,600 units from January to August.

“The continued growth in xEV adoption highlights the strong potential of the market,” Atienza said.

Among CAMPI and TMA members, Toyota Motor Philippines Corp. remained the leading automotive brand with a 49-percent market share.

Mitsubishi Motors Philippines Corp. ranked second with a 17-percent share, followed by Suzuki Philippines Inc. (4.53 percent), Ford Motor Co. Philippines Inc. (3.51 percent) and Honda Cars Philippines Inc. (3.30 percent).