Automotive sales advance 21% in Q1

The crisis in the local automotive industry has finally bottomed out, with sales going up for the third straight month, ending the first quarter of the year 20.7 percent up compared to 1999 sales.

Reports coming from the Chamber of Automotive Manufacturers of the Philippines Inc. (CAMPI) show that industry sales went up by 4,608 units form 22,501 units last year to 27,109 units during the first four months of 2000 despite a small decline in month-on-month sales.

Commercial vehicles continued to lead the recovery, posting a 22.9 percent increase during the period from 13,977 units last year to 17,184 units this year. Passenger cars, on the other hand, posted a 16.4 percent sales increase from 8,524 units to 9,925 units.

According to CAMPI secretary general Miguel de Grano, there was a 13.3 percent decline in the April sales compared to March sales but this was a seasonal decline because of the Holy Week which meant less selling days.

Toyota Motor Philippines continued to lead the market with sales totalling to 8,410 units, followed by Mitsubishi Motor Phils. Corp. with 5,146 units sold. In third place was Honda Cars Phils Inc. which sold 4,706 units and fourth place was Nissan Motors Philippines with 1,485 units sold.

In the passenger car segment, Honda retained its lead during the period with sales of 3,675 units, followed by Toyota which sold a total of 2,453 units. A far third was Nissan which sold 1,397 units followed by Mitsubishi which sold 688 units.

CAMPI said the sales report is a strong indication that the industry is beginning to recover in earnest after receiving a beating in the wake of the Asian currency crisis.

Commercial vehicles, for instance, posted the biggest growth of 22.9 percent on a year-to-date basis and a 17.9 percent growth in April this year compared to last year.

This year, CAMPI expects car sales to total 29,600 units a signs of a recovery became imminent during the latter part of last year.