Philippines motor vehicle output revs up in 7 months

MANILA, Philippines —  The Philippines posted the second fastest growth in motor vehicle production from January to July in Southeast Asia as the country’s output rose by 15.2 percent, data from the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) Automotive Federation (AAF) showed.

According to the AAF, the Philippines assembled 75,644 motor vehicles in the seven-month period, higher than last year’s 65,664 units.

Myanmar posted the highest production growth in the region as its output jumped by 262 percent to 1,352 units as of end-July from just 374 units in the same period in 2023.

The only other country in the region where motor vehicle production in the January to July period increased was in Malaysia, where output grew by 7.7 percent.

All the other ASEAN countries tracked by the AAF registered lower production during the period, led by Indonesia (18.6 percent), Thailand (17.3 percent) and Vietnam (8.6 percent).

Motor vehicles manufactured in the ASEAN declined by 12.2 percent to 2.18 million in the first seven months from 2.49 million units in the same period last year.

In terms of sales, AAF data showed 265,610 motor vehicles were sold in the Philippines from January to July, 10.9 percent higher than the 239,501 units in the previous year.

This placed the Philippines fourth out of seven ASEAN countries in terms of growth in motor vehicle sales, behind Myanmar’s 44.7 percent and Singapore’s 34.2 percent. It was ahead of Malaysia’s 7.2 percent, Vietnam’s 1.1 percent as well as other countries such as Indonesia and Thailand where sales dropped from a year ago.

During the period, motor vehicle sales in ASEAN slowed by 7.7 percent to 1.76 million units from 1.91 million units.

AAF data also showed that motorcycle and scooter production in the Philippines slipped by 1.8 percent to 777,319 units in the January to July period from 791,784 units in the same period last year.

Motorcycle and scooter output also declined in the January to July period by 11.5 percent in Malaysia and 13.1 percent in Thailand.

Only Indonesia registered higher motorcycle and scooter output by 1.5 percent in the January to July period.

Motorcycles and scooters produced in ASEAN were down by 2.5 percent to 6.28 million units in the January to July period from 6.44 million units in the same period in 2023.

Motorcycles and scooters sold in the Philippines however, climbed by 3.1 percent to 960,890 units from 932,220 units.

Apart from the Philippines, Singapore and Indonesia saw higher motorcycle and scooter sales with increases of 3.6 percent and 2.5 percent, respectively.