REVERSES DOUBLE-DIGIT DROP IN JANUARY
Vehicle assemblers registered a 13 percent year-on-year increase in sales in February, reversing the double-digit decline seen in January, on strong demand for commercial vehicles (CV).
In a joint report released yesterday, the Chamber of Automotive Manufacturers of the Philippines Inc. (CAMPI) said combined sales with the Truck Manufacturers Association (TMA) reached 29,790 units in February, higher than the 26,327 units in the same month last year.
“Based on the industry’s statistics, we are also very pleased to report that the month of February 2020 has recorded with the highest sales figures, surpassing the same month’s sales performance in the last 10 years,” CAMPI president Rommel Gutierrez said.
Month-on-month, combined sales of CAMPI and TMA in February rose 25.6 percent.
“While we anticipate a growth recovery coming from the previous month’s losses due to the adverse effect of the Taal Volcano eruption, this double-digit growth is more than what we have expected,” Gutierrez said.
CAMPI and TMA sales declined 12 percent year-on-year in January after the Taal volcano’s eruption affected operations of automotive firms and some dealerships had to be temporarily closed due to the ash fall.
CAMPI said CV sales in February reached 21,697 units, up 21.5 percent from 17,856 units in the same month a year ago.
While CV sales went up, sales of passenger cars (PC) were down 4.5 percent to 8,093 units in February from the previous year’s 8,471 units.
As of end-February, total CAMPI and TMA sales reached 53,513 units, slightly higher than the 53,215 units in the same period last year.
In the same period, CV sales grew 7.2 percent to 38,877 units from 36,257 units a year ago.
Meanwhile, PC sales reached 14,636 units in the January to February period, 13.7 percent lower than the previous year’s 16,958 units.
By company, Toyota Motor Philippines Corp. continued to top the market as it had a 39.57-percent share in the first two months of the year.
Mitsubishi Motors Philippines Corp. was on second place with a 19.79-percent share, and Nissan Philippines Inc. came in third with a 12.64-percent share.
Honda Cars Philippines Inc. was on fourth place with a 6.84 percent share, followed by Ford Group Philippines Inc. with a 6.02-percent share.
Gutierrez said “While the industry remains optimistic that this growth will be sustained in the coming months, we cannot disregard the ripple effect of COVID-19 moving forward. It must be noted that the auto industry remains one of the most complex and integrated supply chains regionally and globally.”
