Auto sales zoom 25% in 5 months

MANILA, Philippines – The Philippine automotive industry remains on the growth track this year as vehicle sales zoomed by a quarter in the first five months.

A joint report released yesterday by the Chamber of Automotive Manufacturers of the Philippines Inc. (CAMPI) and Truck Manufacturers Association (TMA) showed vehicle sales last month surged 31 percent to 30,317 units from 27,697 units in May 2015.

Last month’s strong rollout fueled sales in the first five months of the year to rise 25 percent to 134,488 units from 107,280 units during the same period last year.

CAMPI and TMA said the number of vehicles sold last month was a record high for the month of May and it also came close to breaching the all-time monthly vehicle sales record of 28,667 units posted in October last year.

Industry officials expect the record-shattering trend to continue in the coming months.

 “With another impressive sales figure, we can see that there has been continuous demand for mobility. We expect new models to reach the market with positive response as we also look at July figures to have a stable to higher sales performance,” CAMPI president Rommel Gutierrez said.

The joint report said sales from both passenger car and commercial vehicle segments last month posted improvements compared to last year’s results.

The passenger car segment grew 14 percent year-on-year with 10,893 units sold in May this year.

 “The industry’s stiffer competition complemented with stock availability drove the sales high as new and refreshed models were introduced to the market,” CAMPI and TMA said.