Vehicle sales skid 12% in February

MANILA, Philippines — Sales of the country’s vehicle assemblers declined by 12 percent in February from a year ago due to slow demand for passenger cars (PCs) and commercial vehicles (CVs), the Chamber of Automotive Manufacturers of the Philippines Inc. (CAMPI) said yesterday.

Based on combined sales reports of CAMPI and the Truck Manufacturers Association Inc. (TMA), vehicle sales reached 26,230 units in February,  12 percent lower than the 29,790 units sold in the same month last year.

The group’s PC sales went down by 2.4 percent to 7,899 units in February from 8,093 units a year ago.

CV sales posted a bigger decrease of 15.5 percent to 18,331 units in February from 21,697 units in February last year.

While the combined CAMPI and TMA sales declined year-on-year in February, the figure managed to  rise by 12 percent compared to the 23,380 units sold in January.

This, as PCs rolled out of dealerships rose by more than eight percent from the 7,295 units sold in January, while CV sales grew 14 percent from the 16,085 units sold  in January.

From January to February, total sales retreated by 7.3 percent to 49,610 units from 53,513 units in the same period last year.

PC sales as of end-February climbed by 3.8 percent to 15,194 units from 14,636 units in the same period a year ago.

Meanwhile, CV sales dropped by 11.5 percent to 34,416 units in the first two months   from 38,877 units in the previous year.

CAMPI president Rommel Gutierrez said that while the double-digit month-on-month sales growth seen   in February was a welcome development, the group was wary of the imposition of safeguard measures on vehicle imports and their impact on overall sales.

Even as some CAMPI members are engaged in local assembly of cars, they also sell imported vehicles.

“While the industry sees early signs of recovery, the provisional import duties, more so if it becomes definitive, will derail any recovery efforts of the automotive industry.  Rather than restricting imports, a better incentive scheme must be crafted to attract investments for local production of motor vehicles,” Gutierrez said.

The Department of Trade and Industry (DTI) has imposed provisional safeguard duties amounting to P70,000 and P110,000  for imported PCs and light commercial vehicles, respectively, in support of the local vehicle manufacturing industry.

The decision was made as the DTI found in its evaluation of the petition from the Philippine Metalworkers’ Alliance that higher vehicle imports are hurting local motor vehicle manufacturing which saw a decline in market share, sales and employment.

The Tariff Commission is undertaking a probe on the case to determine if the safeguard measures should be made definitive.

Under the Safeguard Measures Act, the government can impose safeguard measures to provide relief to the domestic industry when imports of like products cause serious injury.