Vehicle sales off to modest 4% growth in January

MANILA, Philippines — Vehicle sales posted a modest improvement at the start of 2018, a year in which demand is expected to slow down with the implementation of higher automobile excise taxes.

The Chamber of Automotive Manufacturers of the Philippines Inc. (CAMPI) and the Truck Manufacturers Association said yesterday their member firms sold 31,645 units last month, up four percent from the 30,425 units in the same month last year.

Compared to the previous month, January vehicle sales dropped 30.4 percent from 45,494 units in December 2017.

Although the growth is slower compared to the industry’s expansion in the previous months, CAMPI president Rommel Gutierrez said the January results could be considered a good start for the industry.

“We started the year with a modest growth of four percent in January against the same period last year,” Gutierrez said.

“While this is considerably low compared to the growth rate of January 2017  (27 percent up versus January 2016), we still consider January 2018 sales as satisfactory and a good start for the auto industry. We will continue our efforts in sustaining the growth momentum of past years,” he added.

Commercial vehicles accounted for bulk of last month’s total sales with 21,855 units, while the remaining 9,790 units sold were passenger cars.

Toyota Motors Philippines Corp. remained the market leader with 41.77 percent share, having sold 13,217 units last month.

Mitsubishi Motors Philippines Corp. followed with sales of 6,757 units, accounting for a market share of 21.35 percent.

Completing the top five were Ford Motor Co. Philippines (8.65 percent), Honda Cars Philippines Inc. (6.72 percent) and Nissan Philippines Inc. (6.32 percent).

Gutierrez said CAMPI remains cautious in its projection for 2018, but noted the group is confident the market will be able to adjust to the new auto excise tax this year.