Phl remains Asean laggard in motor vehicle production

MANILA, Philippines - The Philippines remained the loggared in motor vehicle production in the Southeast Asian region, according to the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) Automotive Federation (AAF).

Data from the AAF showed the country assembled a total of 77,216 motor vehicles in the 10-month period, 16 percent higher than the 66,566 units produced in the same period last year.

Despite the double-digit growth in motor vehicle output, the Philippines remained the region’s laggard as other countries with motor vehicle assembly operations in Southeast Asia had higher production volumes for the same ten-month period.

Thailand manufactured the most number of motor vehicles with 1.56 million units, followed by Indonesia with 1.11 million units, Malaysia with 497,930 units and Vietnam which had 97,430 units.

The entire Asean region produced 3.35 million units of motor vehicles as of end-October, down 10.7 percent from the 3.75 million units in the same period last year.

As for motor vehicle sales, the Philippines got the fourth spot out of six countries, as it sold 192,005 units in the ten-month period this year, 29.6 percent higher than the 148,181 units a year ago.

The country beat Brunei which had motor vehicle sales of 15,243 units, Singapore which sold 38,326 units and Vietnam with sales of 103,348 units, but was behind Indonesia which had 1.038 million units, Thailand with its 719,260 units and Malaysia with its 546,492 units.

Total motor vehicle sales in the Asean dropped by 10.3 percent to 2.653 million units as of end-October this year from 2.956 million units in 2013.

In terms of motorcycle and scooter assembly, the Philippines placed third out of four countries with production operations in the region in the ten-month period.

The country’s motorcycle and scooter output for the January to October period slipped to 612,444 units this year from the previous year’s 613,657 units.

The Philippines’ motorcycle and scooter production volume for the ten-month period is above Malaysia’s 371,394 units, but below Indonesia’s 6.758 million units and Thailand’s 1.540 million units.

The total number of motorcycles and scooters produced in the Asean declined by 2.6 percent to 9.282 million units in the January to October period this year from 9.527 million units a year ago.

The Philippines likewise ranked third out of four countries in terms of motorcycle and scooter sales in the January to October period.

For the 10-month period, the Philippines’ motorcycle and scooter sales climbed by 4.5 percent to 635,328 units this year from 608,199 units a year ago.

The country’s motorcycle and scooter sales performance was better than Singapore’s 6,919 units, but behind Malaysia’s 374,487 units, Thailand’s 1.461 million units and Indonesia’s 6.761 million units.