Auto sales slump 15% due to Lenten break

Sales of the automotive industry declined by 15 percent to 8,628 units in April following two months of steady climb as the Lenten season disrupted business operations with fewer selling days.

"April sales showed a decline of 15 percent primarily due to the Lenten season with fewer selling days," the Chamber of Automotive Manufacturers of the Philippines Inc. (CAMPI) and the Truck Manufacturers Association (TMA) said in a joint statement.

Despite the double digit dip in April, CAMPI and TMA are confident they can meet their 2007 sales target of 103,000 units. In the first four months of the year, sales went up by 18.7 percent.

"Auto industry sales are on track to hurdle the 100,000 unit sales mark by yearend assuming continued implementation of the used car import ban coupled with the strong peso," Elizabeth H. Lee, CAMPI president said.

Sales are expected to pick up again this month with the introduction of new models which are expected to boost sales of car companies.

In April, Mitsubishi introduced three new models of sports utility vehicles (SUVs), the all-new Mitsubishi Outlander, Mitsubishi Endeavor and Mitsubishi Pajero. The month before, Honda introduced its new generation CR-V while Nissan unveiled its Super Safari.

Toyota Motor Philippines Corp. captured the biggest share of total auto sales of more than 40 percent.

Honda Cars Philippines Inc. was a far second with 13.54 percent of total sales while Mitsubishi Motors Philippines was third with 12.76 percent. Number four was Isuzu Philippines Corp. with 6.85 percent. Completing the top five was Ford Motor Co. Phils. Inc. with 6.43 percent of total industry sales.

As in the previous months, there were more commercial vehicles sold than passenger cars. Commercial vehicle sales make up 66 percent of the sales while the remaining 34 percent is passenger cars.

Sales of passenger cars dropped by 27 percent in April to 2,953 from 4,024 in March. CAMPI and TMA said the decline is mainly due to low seasonality, coupled by stock unavailabity and late shipment arrivals. Looking forward, they said the current new models recently introduced in the market will help buoy sales for the coming months.

Toyota beat Honda in passenger car sales by selling 1,118 cars getting 37.86 percent of the market while Honda sold 853 cars representing 29-percent market share. Ford trailed with 7.52-percent market share or sales of 222 cars. Number four was Hyundai with 5.38 percent and 159 cars sold. General Motors Automobiles Phils. was fifth at 5.18 percent and 153 cars.