Toyota trims sales target due to supply woes

MANILA, Philippines - Toyota Motor Philippines (TMP), the country’s leading automotive company in terms of sales, has pared down its four-percent full year sales target to zero or flat growth due to supply gaps.

During the company’s 23rd anniversary celebration at The Fort yesterday, TMP first vice president for vehicle sales operations Raymond Rodriguez said they expect to sell around 57,000 units this year. Last year, the firm sold more than 56,000 units. “We will almost be at the same level as last year,” he told reporters.

Rodriguez said they will be able to maintain their over 30 percent market share after getting back the triple crown in July. For two months, Toyota only came in second to Mitsubishi Motors Philippines Corp. in terms of commercial vehicle sales.

Rodriguez said they were able to regain the top spot as supply bottlenecks began to loosen. 

For next year, he said that the environment will be better assuming that the growth trend continues. Rodriguez said they cannot as yet factor in the US credit rating downgrade and its effect on OFW remittances. The auto industry has been consistent in citing OFW remittances as a growth driver.

Rodriguez said domestic production of Vios and Innova remains strong. At the same time, sales of Avanze remain consistent. However, he noted that there is a slowdown in Hi-Ace sales due to supply constraints. He said this is a worldwide phenomenon and is not related with the tsunami in Japan.

He said they have a backlog in sales. In the first quarter, they were averaging 400 units, per month. Last July, it was 282 units. The lowest was recorded in June with 142 units. Hi-Ace is number one in its category in the local market followed by Starex.

In the case of the hybrid, Rodriguez said they are not keeping stocks anymore and are only ordering units if there is a client.

For the Fortuner, he said sales went down this month because of supply problems as a result of their decision to change models. The new model is P20,000 cheaper and will be available September.