Car sales climb by 20% in May

MANILA, Philippines — Sales of local car and truck assemblers went up by a fifth in May from a year ago, amid improving economic conditions.

The Chamber of Automotive Manufacturers of the Philippines Inc. (CAMPI) and Truck Manufacturers Association (TMA) released a joint report yesterday which showed their combined sales reaching 26,370 units in May, higher than the 22,062 units in the same month last year.

On a month-on-basis, CAMPI-TMA’s sales in May rose by 4.9 percent compared to  25,149 units in April, CAMPI-TMA’s passenger car (PC) sales, meanwhile, dipped by 8.4 percent to 6,964 units in May.

Commercial vehicle (CV) sales grew by 34.2 percent to 19,406 units in May from 14,463 units in the same month a year ago.

CAMPI president Rommel Gutierrez said “the economic recovery from the ripple effects of the pandemic and the overall robust domestic demand are major contributing factors to the continued improvement of the automotive sales performance recorded in May.”

Based on CAMPI data, the industry posted double-digit growth for three consecutive months on a year-on-year basis.

For the January to May period, CAMPI-TMA’s total sales climbed 14.6 percent to 126,273 units this year.   PC sales, on the other hand, were down 9.9 percent to 31,546 units as of end-May.

As for the CV segment, CAMPI-TMA’s sales increased by 26 percent to 94,727 units in the first five months.

Toyota Motor Philippines Corp. remained the market leader as of end-May with a 52 percent share.

Mitsubishi Motors Philippines Corp. placed second with a 12.84 percent share, while Nissan Philippines Inc. came in third with a 7.58 percent share.

Suzuki Philippines Inc. got the fourth spot with a 6.46 percent share, followed by Ford Motor Co. Philippines Inc. in fifth place with a 5.5 percent share.

“The industry is optimistic for a sustained economic growth anchored on domestic demand amid the continued containment of the pandemic - all important to the full recovery of the industry,” Gutierrez said.