Car, truck manufacturers post 19.9% sales growth in April

MANILA, Philippines - Member companies of the Chamber of Automotive Manufacturers of the Philippines Inc. (CAMPI) and the Truck Manufacturers Association (TMA) registered a 19.9-percent increase in vehicle sales in April after a drop in sales in March.

Sold in April were 18, 094 units against 15,094 units in the same month last year.

Sales in the passenger car (PC) and commercial vehicle (CV) segments rose by 41 percent and 10 percent, respectively.

“This improvement is due to strong stable demand of new models and continuous marketing support where most brands extended their summer promotions,” the groups said in a joint statement.

Sales of light commercial vehicles (LCVs) registered sales of 7,323 in April, up 15 percent; light trucks sales totaled 318 units, up 57.4 percent; Category 4 and Category 5 trucks and buses registered 184 and 25 unit sales, respectively, a combined growth of 57.1 percent.

Sales of AUVs fell by three percent to register sales of 3, 505 units in April.

“Last March, the overall outlook for April was lower because historically, the Holy Week month registers lower sales due to few selling days. However, the market volume for April was still notable and beyond what we have anticipated. For the remaining months of the second quarter, as the automotive industry continues to get stronger, we are considering higher sales, if not stable,” said CAMPI president Rommel Gutierrez.

2014 year-to-date sales of CAMPI and TMA member companies reached 69,737 units or a growth of 22.1 percent.

Toyota Motor Philippines Corp. (TMPC) remains the market leader with a 44 percent share in the aggregate sales, an increase of 3.4 percent year-on-year.

Toyota is followed by Mitsubishi Motor Philippines Corp. with a share of 23.5 percent.

Ford Motor Philippines is third with a 7.8 percent share.

Isuzu Philippines Corp. has a six percent share in the total sales and Honda Cars Philippines Inc. has a 5.5 percent market share.