Automotive sales down 14.6% in February

Weighed down by declining consumer spending, the automotive industry suffered a 14.6-percent decline in February sales and industry experts said they were not expecting demand to pick up in the first quarter of 2001.

Data from the Chamber of Automotive Manufacturers of the Philippines Inc. (CAMPI) indicated that total industry sales was 1,014 units less than the units sold in February 2000.

According to CAMPI, year to date sales also showed a 16-percent decline from 13,912 units sold in the first two months of last year compared to only 11,686 units this year.

CAMPI secretary general Mario de Grano said the industry was still in the grips of the after-effects of the political crisis that depressed sales late last year and this was expected to linger throughout the first quarter.

According to De Grano, the industry was also feeling the production slowdown of Honda Cars Philippines Inc. whose operations have been affected by its unresolved labor problems.

Unable to settle the terms of its collective bargaining agreement, De Grano said Honda’s production had slowed down for the past two months. "Moreover, we do not expect Honda to introduce its new models until April and this is going to have an effect on overall industry performance," he said.

The decline in sales was evident across the sector as both passenger car and commercial vehicle sales went down in February by 30.8 percent and 5.8 percent, respectively. Year-to-date sales also went down by 31.3 and 7.9 percent, respectively.

The decline, however, did not affect overall standing of the country’s automotive assemblers. Toyota Motor Philippines Corp. continued to lead industry sales with 1,668 units sold followed by Mitsubishi Motor Phils. Corp. with 1,373 units and Isuzu Motor Philippines with 1,293 units.

In terms of performance, Campi figures indicated that Toyota’s February sales recorded a 27.5-percent improvement over its 2000 sales, while Honda improved its sales by a marginal 9.8 prercent. Mitsubishi’s total sales was also 23 percent better than the previous year.

On the other hand, Honda remained the country’s top car producer despite its production problems. In February, it sold 424 units, followed by Toyota with 422 units sold. Nissan was third with 261 units sold and in fourth place was Mitsubishi with 214 units.

CAMPI had earlier estimated that the 2001 sales would slow down to 80,000 units compared to 83,949 units sold last year. Although 2000 was a remarkable recovery compared to the 74,414 units sold in 1999, the industry said the 2000 momentum was cut short by the political crisis late in the year.