Car sales up 14% in Jan-Sept

Car sales rose by a double-digit growth of 14 percent during the first nine months of the year due mainly to a strong sales performance of Asian utility vehicles (AUV) and light commercial vehicles, the Chamber of Automotive Manufacturers of the Philippines (CAMPI) reported yesterday.

Based on CAMPI report, total motor vehicle sales during the nine-month period went up by 69,918 units from 61,350 units in the same period last year.

Sales of commercial vehicles, which accounted for more than 78 percent of total, went up by 22.6 percent to 54,943 units from 44,798 units sold in the same period last year.

On the other hand, sales of passenger cars declined by 9.5 percent to 14,975 units during the nine-month period from 16,552 units sold a year ago.

CAMPI said the strong growth in commercial vehicle sales was due to the strong demand for AUVs and light commercial vehicles in anticipation of higher prices due to the new excise tax.

"Customers continued to advance their purchases of AUVs and LCVs to be able to take advantage of pre-excise tax implementation prices," the CAMPI said.

However, CAMPI said, customers adopted a wait-and-see attitude for passenger cars as a result of the new excise tax which became effective only this Oct. 4.

Toyota Motors Philippines Corp. continued to lead the pack with total sales of 20,157 units during the nine-month period.

Honda Cars Philippines Inc. was number two with sales of 12,069 units.

Ranking third overall was Mitsubishi Motors Philippines Corp. with total units sold at 11,871.

At fourth place was Isuzu Philippines Corp. with total sales of 11,043 units followed by Nissan Motor Philippines Inc. with 2,052 units sold. Nissan’s sales, however, can be combined with the sales report of Universal Motors Corp. with 3,797 units.

Ford Motor Co. Philippines took the number six slot with 3,930 units sold during the review period.