Philippines vehicle output, sales worst in ASEAN

MANILA, Philippines — The Philippines continued to perform poorly in terms of motor vehicle production in Southeast Asia as it was again the only country in the region which saw its output decline year-on-year in the nine months to September this year.

Data from the ASEAN Automotive Federation showed the Philippines rolled out 62,491 vehicles from January to September, down 44.8 percent from last year’s 113,167 units.

In contrast, other ASEAN countries with vehicle assembly operations posted higher output in the nine-month period.

Thailand, which serves as the region’s automotive production hub, posted an 8.6 percent increase in output to reach 1.60 million units as of end-September from the previous year’s 1.48 million units.

In Indonesia, vehicle output rose 10.2 percent to 995,836 units in the nine-month period from 903,464 units a year ago, while Malaysia manufactured 420,498 vehicles, 10.3 percent higher than the 381,171 units last year.

Vietnam’s vehicle output increased slightly to 148,317 units in the January to September period from the previous year’s 146,009 units, while Myanmar’s jumped 145.5 percent to 8,014 units from 3,264 units a year ago.

ASEAN produced a total of 3.24 million units as of end-September, 7.1 percent higher than the 3.02 million units last year. 

In terms of sales, the Philippines was among the countries in the region which sold fewer vehicles this year compared to a year ago.

Motor vehicles sales in the Philippines slid 13.8 percent to 261,161 units in the nine months period from the previous year’s 302,869 units.

Also selling fewer cars year-on-year are Brunei which saw sales dip 4.8 percent to 8,369 vehicles as of end-September from last year’s 8,790 vehicles, while Singapore’s sales went down 16.8 percent to 70,105 vehicles in the nine-month period from 84,229 vehicles a year ago.

Sales in Thailand rose 20.3 percent to 746,584 units in the January to September period

from last year’s 620,715 units, while Indonesia’s sales posted a 6.5 percent uptick to 856,439 units in the nine-month period from 803,812 units  the previous year.

Other countries in the region with higher year-on-year motor vehicle sales as of end-September are Malaysia which sold 454,971 units from 425,678 units; Vietnam with sales of 194,427 units from 184,838 units; and Myanmar with 11,815 units from 5,369 units.

ASEAN’s motor vehicle sales climbed 6.9 percent to 2.60 million units in the January to September period from 2.44 million units a year ago.

While the Chamber of Automotive Manufacturers of the Philippines earlier said it expects sales to decline UP to 15 percent this year with rising inflation and the higher taxes slapped on vehicles affecting consumer demand, the group is hopeful of a recovery next year.

CAMPI president Rommel Gutierrez has said the group forecasts  a 10 percent growth in sales next year.

 “We are positive about next year. So whatever is the figure for this year, we’ll project a better figure next year,” Gutierrez said.