Vehicle sales up 6% in July

MANILA, Philippines — Vehicle sales rose by six percent in July, as automotive firms rolled out new vehicle models and improved their product offerings.

A joint report of the Chamber of Automotive Manufacturers of the Philippines Inc. (CAMPI) and Truck Manufacturers Association (TMA) showed that the industry sold 39,331 vehicles in July, up from 37,086 units in the same month last year.

July vehicle sales were also 0.6 percent higher than the 39,088 units sold in the previous month.

“New product launches, improved product offerings, good sales momentum as well as supply availability helped neutralize the impact of Typhoon Carina, especially toward the latter part of July,” CAMPI president Rommel Gutierrez said.

Passenger car (PC) sales in July went up by 14.9 percent to 10,923 units this year from 9,509 units in the same month last year.

Sales of commercial vehicles (CV) posted a three percent growth at 28,408 units in July this year from 27,577 units in the same month a year ago.

In the January to July period, CAMPI and TMA sold 265,610 units, 10.9 percent higher than the 239,501 units during the same period in 2023.

PC sales picked up by 17.3 percent to 70,798 units in the seven- month period from 60,357 units in the same period a year ago.

Sales in the CV segment rose by 8.7 percent to 194,812 units in the January to July period from 179,144 units in the same period the previous year.

Toyota Motor Philippines Corp. remained the dominant market player during the period with its 46.21 percent share.

Mitsubishi Motors Philippines Corp. placed second with 19.05 percent, followed by Ford Group Philippines at 6.33 percent.

Nissan Philippines Inc. got the fourth spot with 5.96 percent, while Suzuki Philippines Inc. placed fifth with a 4.33 percent share.

Meanwhile, data from the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) Automotive Federation (AAF) showed Philippine motor vehicle output increased by 13.4 percent in the first semester to 64,333 units from 56,739 units in the same period last year.

Philippine motor vehicle output recorded the second fastest increase in the region next to Myanmar’s 366.4 percent growth to 1,068 units in the first half from just 229 units a year ago.

Also posting growth in motor vehicle production in the first half was Malaysia with 8.1 percent, while others registered declines such as Indonesia (20 percent), Thailand (17.4 percent) and Vietnam (9.3 percent).

Total motor vehicles assembled in ASEAN slid by 12.7 percent to 1.85 million units in the first semester from 2.12 million units in the same period last year.

AAF data also showed that motorcycle production in the Philippines dipped by four percent to 652,374 units in the first half from 679,348 units in the same period in 2023.

All other countries tracked by AAF also registered declines in motorcycle output in the first semester such as Malaysia (15.2 percent), Thailand (11.8 percent) and Indonesia (1.7 percent).