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Philippines: Vehicle sales tumble 7% in February
MANILA, Philippines — Sales of the country’s vehicle assemblers dipped by seven percent in February, but the industry expects to see recovery with the further reopening of the economy.
A joint report by the Chamber of Automotive Manufacturers of the Philippines Inc. (CAMPI) and Truck Manufacturers Association (TMA) released yesterday showed total vehicle sales reached 24,304 units in February, lower than the 26,230 units in the same month last year.
Sales in the passenger car (PC) segment dropped by 25 percent to 5,914 units from the previous year’s 7,899 units.
Meanwhile, commercial vehicle (CV) sales went up slightly to 18,390 units from 18,331 a year ago.
Compared to total vehicle sales, which reached 20,765 units in January, CAMPI and TMA’s total sales in February went up 17 percent.
CAMPI president Rommel Gutierrez said the month-on-month growth in sales in February was seen amid improved consumer confidence as the country shifted to low-risk classification for COVID-19.
For the January to February period, CAMPI-TMA’s total vehicle sales declined by 9.2 percent to 45,069 units.
PC sales were down by 23 percent to 11,698 units as of end-February.
Sales of CVs slid three percent to 33,371 units in the first two months of the year.
As of end-February, Toyota Motor Philippines Corp. accounted for the biggest share in vehicle sales at 49 percent.
Mitsubishi Motors Philippines Corp. placed second with a 14.33 percent share, while Nissan Philippines Inc. got the third spot with a 7.85 percent share.
Suzuki Philippines took fourth place with a 6.43 percent share, followed by Ford Motor Co. Philippines Inc. with a six percent share.
“The industry is anticipating to see a continued recovery this month as the economy further reopens, downgrading to the least restrictive Alert Level 1 in major areas including the National Capital Region starting this month,” Gutierrez said.
He said the local automotive industry is targeting to sell 336,000 units this year, a 17 percent increase from the actual volume last year.
“As the economy reopens, the safety and health of the public is paramount to prevent another wave of virus infections and cause disruption anew to the recovery of the industry,” he said.
Source: https://www.philstar.com/business/2022/03/11/2166400/vehicle-sales-tumble-7-february