Auto sales plunge 25% in November

The ongoing political crisis and the resulting economic crunch hit the automotive sector with full impact last month as industry sales plummeted by 25 percent and slowed down total sales during the first 11 months of the year.

The 11-month figure managed to stay above water, increasing by 16.4 percent, but this was slower than the 18.7-percent growth during the first 10 months, indicating a slowdown in total sales.

Data from the Chamber of Automotive Manufacturers of the Phils. Inc. (CAMPI) show that total industry sales went up from 66,667 units in January to November in 1999 to 77,577 units over the same period this year.

Facing the beginning of another financing crunch, automotive sales took a huge 25.1-percent dip on a month-on-month basis, pulled down by declining car sales in November.

The erstwhile popular sports utility vehicles (SUVs) took a beating in November, pulling total commercial vehicle sales down by 25 percent from October levels. Only the strong performance early in the year managed to keep year-to-date sales afloat, but it pared the growth down to only 20 percent.

Commercial vehicle sales went down by 1,303 units in November compared to October sales while January to November sales went up by 8,637 units this year compared to last year.

Passenger car sales took a 25.3-percent decline in November as manufacturers increased their prices by as much as 15 percent. CAMPI reported that only 1,682 units were sold in November compared to 2,252 units sold in October.

CAMPI secretary general Mario de Grano said car sales were hit squarely by the increase in prices, spurred by increasing production costs due to the depreciation of the peso.

Consumers were also beginning to feel another tightening in car financing, indicating a further decline in sales in the remaining months of the year.

CAMPI had repeatedly said it was not likely to revise its whole year sales target but there were initial indications that the target might be exceeded if present trends continued up to the end of the year.

This year, CAMPI expected total automotive sales to reach 76,500 units. Automotive manufacturers are scheduled to implement further increases in prices just to keep up with the depreciation of the peso. It would take another round of price increase for the assemblers to catch up with the ongoing depreciation.

Based on current trends, CAMPI earlier said the industry might be able to exceed the target by as much as 5,000 units by the end of the year.

Perennial market leader Toyota Motor continued to lead industry sales with 22,384 units form January to November this year followed by Mitsubishi Motor Phils. Corp. with 14,770 units sold Honda Cars Phils. was third with 11,885 units sold; followed by Isuzu Phils. Corp., which entered the top four with 7,309 units.

Data from the CAMPI indicated that in the passenger car segment, Honda retained its lead during the period as it sold 9,151, followed by Toyota which sold a total of 5,788 units. A far third was Nissan which sold 5,308 units followed by Ford which entered the top five for the first time with 1,945 units sold. CAMPI said the sales data bared strong indications that the industry was beginning to recover in earnest after receiving a beating in the wake of the Asian currency crisis.