Auto sales up 20% in 7 months

MANILA, Philippines - The local automotive industry shifted to a higher gear in the first seven months of the year behind strong sales of both passenger cars (PC) and commercial vehicles (CV) in July.

In a joint report, the Chamber of Automotive Manufacturers of the Philippines (CAMPI) and Truck Manufacturers Association (TMA) said vehicle sales in January to July increased 20 percent to 156,034 units from 129,687 units in the same period last year.

In July alone, it reached a record 24,569 units, up 18.5 percent from 20,730 a year earlier and a two percent improvement from the previous month.

 “This is a very good start for the second semester which normally accounts for a bigger share of the whole year’s target. We are confident that the market will remain strong and industry will respond by bringing in new stocks in preparation for the demand peak towards the end of the year,” CAMPI president Rommel Gutierrez said.

CAMPI and TMA said all categories had their own share of growth last month.

The PC segment sold 10,221 units in July, 23 percent more compared to the 8,339 units rolled out in the same month last year.

 “Similar to the previous months, the rise is mainly because of availability of certain sub-compact cars and continuous attractive marketing efforts conducted by the industry,” the report said.

The CV segment also climbed 16 percent to 14,348 units from 12,391 units in July 2014.

CAMPI and TMA said Categories I and II (AUVs and SUVs) fueled the CV growth last month, selling 4,709 units and 8,798 units, respectively.

The heavy-duty vehicles, meanwhile, continued to perform well and had already exceeded the full year sales target of 490 units.

The heavy-duty trucks segment sold 127 units last month, higher than the 30 units sold in the same month last year and 101 units in June this year.

The joint report showed Toyota Motors Philippines Corp. continues to lead the industry with a 43.8 percent market share, followed by Mitsubishi Motors Philippines Corp. with 19.1 percent.

Isuzu Philippines Corp. and Ford Motor Co. Philippines Inc. closed in tight fourth and fifth spots with 7.9 percent and 7.8 percent, respectively.

Honda Cars Philippines ranked fifth with a 6.7 percent market share.