Automotive sales up 11% to 55,508 units in Jan-July

The Chamber of Automotives Manufacturers of the Philippines (CAMPI) and the Truck Manufacturers Association (TMA) jointly reported yesterday that automotive sales rose by a notable 11 percent to 55,508 units in the first seven months of the year from 49,810 units in the same period last year.

Commercial vehicle sales surged by 16 percent to 34,830 units from January to July this year as compared to only 30,038 units sold for the comparable period last year.

According to CAMPI and TMA, the 16-percent growth in commercial vehicle sales was due to a strong demand for pickup and compact sport utility vehicle (SUV).

Passenger car posted a 10.4-percent growth with 20,678 units sold for the seven-month period from only 18,735 units a year ago.

The CAMP-TMA attributed the increase in passenger car sales to continued aggressive marketing and financing promos.

Overall sales is expected to be maintained in the coming months. Sales of Asian utility vehicles also recovered during the review period after initially facing a slump due to the imposition of taxes on this segment.

AUV sales from January to July posted a healthy increase of 23 percent with 15,880 units sold compared to only 12,724 units sold for the first seven months of 2004.

Light commercial vehicles (LCV) sales for the same seven-month period posted a marginal increase of two percent.

Light Truck sales for the seven- month period showed a 48.4-percent growth, while sales of trucks and buses also posted a growth of 11.9 percent.

Toyota Motor Philippines Corp. still dominated the market with sales of 19,823 units from January to July this year, cornering 35.71 percent of the market.

Mitsubishi Motor Philippines Corp. also retained its No. 2 slot with sales of 7,943 units.

Isuzu Motors Philippines managed to hang on to the No. 3 spot with sales of 5,642 units.

Honda Cars Philippines Inc. still failed to improve its sales and stayed at the number four spot with sales of 5,514 units.

At number five was Ford Motors Philippines with sales of 5,140 units, including sales of its subsidiary Mazda brand.

Nissan was sixth with sales of 2,782 units followed by Hyundai Asia Resources, Inc. with sales of 2,561 units.