Online car portal eyeing more offices in Visayas Mindanao

CEBU, Philippines – E-commerce firm Carmudi said it plans to establish four more regional offices next year to saturate the Visayas and Mindanao markets.

Kris Lim, marketing head of Carmudi Philippines, said the offices will be located in the cities of Iloilo, Bacolod, Cagayan de Oro and Davao. It has existing offices in Manila and Cebu.

Lim said the online car seller wants to have more users from Visayas and Mindanao which currently account for about 45% of its users while the National Capital Region makes up 55%.

Moreover, Lim said there has been an increase in listings of motorcycles on its website.

Citing data from the Land Transportation Office (LTO), he said there are around five million registered motorcycle users in the country this year and that is expected to rise to seven million in 2016.

Carmudi, which lists mostly pre-owned cars, expects car sales in the country to continue to grow.

Latest joint data from the Chamber of Automotive Manufacturers of the Philippines Inc. (CAMPI) and Truck Manufacturers Association showed car sales in September rose by almost a third to 27,069 units from 20,924 vehicles sold in 2014’s comparable month.

Car sales in September also noted a 16.8% from the 23,181 units sold a month earlier.

The latest figures brought the January-September count to 206,284 vehicles, up 21.5% from last year’s 169,727. CAMPI targets to sell a total of 310,000 units this year. (FREEMAN)