Thailand
Despite faster rollout, vehicle volume in Philippines lags behind in Asean
MANILA, Philippines — Vehicle production in the country continues to expand, outgrowing most markets in the region last year, but remained lagging behind its peers in terms of volume.
Data from the ASEAN Automotive Federation showed motor vehicle production in the Philippines accelerated 21 percent in 2017 to 141,252 units from 116,868 units in the previous year.
The 21 percent growth was second fastest behind Myanmar’s triple-digit expansion. Production in both countries, however, finished at the bottom of the region last year volume-wise.
Thailand remained the region’s top production hub with 1.99 million units, up two percent from 2016’s 1.94 million units.
This was followed by Indonesia which saw production rising three percent year-on-year to 1.22 million units in 2017.
Despite seeing a year-on-year decline, production in Malaysia and Vietnam remained larger than that of the Philippines at 499,639 units and 195,937 units, respectively.
Overall, total vehicle produced in the region in 2017 reached 4.04 million units, almost flat from the 4.02 million units sold the previous year.
“The lack of further expansion in assembly capabilities poses risk on insufficient demand for suppliers to increase their capacity. These prospects make the country an unlikely candidate for investments by global lead firms,” the Department of Trade and Industry (DTI) said in a policy brief.
Meanwhile, vehicle sales in the Philippines zoomed with the second fastest pace in the region last year, ahead of the higher auto excise tax implementation in the country.
The ASEAN Automotive Federation report, which uses data from Chamber of Automotive Manufacturers of the Philippines Inc., showed Philippine vehicle sales, which expanded 18 percent in 2017, outpaced those of Thailand (13 percent), Singapore (five percent), and Indonesia (two percent).
Myanmar, which is the smallest market in the region in terms of sales volume, posted the fastest growth last year at 97 percent.
Sales in Brunei, Vietnam and Malaysia, meanwhile, declined 15 percent, seven percent, and one percent, respectively.
Total vehicle sales in the region, according to the report, improved five percent to 3.34 million units in 2017 from 3.17 million units the previous year.
Indonesia, Thailand, and Malaysia recorded the highest volume with 1.08 million units, 871,650 units, and 576,635 units sold, respectively.
In the Philippines, some 476,073 units were sold last year.
“While the Philippine annual motor vehicle sales have been on an upward trajectory, the country ranks below its regional peers such as Indonesia, Malaysia, and Thailand. Even when the market achieves the projects 500,000 annual sales of motor vehicles by 2020, demand will still be lower than Indonesia, Malaysia, and Thailand,” the DTI said.
Source: http://www.philstar.com/business/2018/02/05/1784571/despite-faster-rollout-vehicle-volume-philippines-lags-behind-asean