Auto sales slightly down in first half

MANILA, Philippines - A slight decline in auto sales was recorded in the first six months of the year due to continued supply limitation.

The joint report of the Chamber of Automotive Manufacturers of the Philippines Inc. (CAMPI) and the Truck Manufacturers Association (TMA) showed that sales went down by 1.6 percent to 70,000 units during the first six months of the year from 71,121 units a year ago.

For June alone, a sharp decline of 15.2 percent was noted with sales dropping to 10,978 units from 12,495 units in June last year.

Data further showed that seven of the 15 member firms posted a decline in market share. The top three manufacturers, Toyota Motor Philippines (TMP), Mitsubishi Motor Philippines Corp. and Honda Cars Philippines Inc. all experienced a downturn in sales when compared to the same period a year ago.

Toyota sold 24,984 units with a market share of 35.69 percent followed by Mitsubishi which sold 16,865 units with a market share of 24.09 percent and Honda with 6,991 units and 9.99 percent market share.

Passenger car sales grew by 20 percent in June with total sales of 3,928 units compared to the 3,274 units in May. The members’ aggressive promotion and new model introduction contributed largely to this growth. Commercial vehicle sales however are still affected by the supply limitation with the first six months reflecting a two percent downturn.

CAMPI has been projecting a recovery towards the third and fourth quarters owing to the fact that the supply problem is a temporary situation. With the manufacturers in Japan starting to normalize their operation, the industry is expecting that the impact of the Japan crisis in the domestic auto industry would taper off going into the current quarter.

This is validated by the recent survey results in Japan that industrial production increased by 5.7 percent in May which includes transport equipment passenger cars and trucks.