Automotive sales up 11.6% in 2002

The local automotive industry managed to post a growth of 11.6 percent in 2002, thanks to Filipinos’ growing demand for AUVs, vans, pick-ups and light trucks.

Based on a report from the Chamber of Automotive Manufacturers of the Philippines Inc. (CAMPI), total industry sales reached 85,587 units for the whole of 2002, more than 11 percent higher than the 76,670 units sold in 2001.

Commercial vehicles composed of AUVs, vans, pick-up and light trucks enjoyed a strong demand with sales reaching 63,859 units, or nearly 75 percent of total units sold by the industry.

This category also recorded a robust growth of 26.5 percent compared with the previous year’s sale of 52,936 units.

Demand for passenger cars, on the other hand, went down last year with sales declining by 8.3 percent to 21,728 from 23,684 in 2001.

Of the number of commercial vehicles sold last year, more than half, or 37,377 were AUVs, while the rest or 26,482 were pick-ups, vans and light trucks.

Toyota Motor Philippines Corp. remained on top in terms of overall passenger and commercial vehicle sales.

For the whole of 2002, Toyota sold a total of 24,763 units of which 9,000 were passenger cars.

Toyota said that "2002 was a good year with their sales jumping 24 percent from 2001."

Toyota said the strong demand for Corolla Altis and Camry put the car firm back on the top slot in the passenger car category. This particular category was held by Honda from 1996 to 2001.

The Altis and the Revo, Toyota said, remained its best-selling models in their class despite new models and aggressive sales promotion activities by its competitors, particularly in the AUV segment.

Toyota also attributed its strong performance last year to aggressive marketing activities where it focused on making its vehicles more affordable to the public through special auto loan packages, cash rebates and financing deals.

Mitsubishi Motors Philippines Corp. had to settle for the second slot with total sales of 16,282 units.

Honda Cars Philippines Inc. grabbed the number three position with sales of 13,594 units, followed by Isuzu Philippines with 12,030 units sold.

Nissan Motor Philippines Inc. landed on the fifth slot with a combined sales of 7,620 units from NMPI and Universal Motors Corp.

Ford Motors Co. Phils. Inc was at number six with sales of 4,210 units.