Auto sales zoom by 5 percent in October

MANILA, Philippines — The country’s vehicle sales sustained an upward trend, accelerating by 4.9 percent in October from the previous year, with automotive firms having sufficient inventory to meet consumer demand.

A joint report by the Chamber of Automotive Manufacturers of the Philippines Inc. (CAMPI) and the Truck Manufacturers Association (TMA) released yesterday showed that the automotive industry sold 40,003 vehicles in October, higher than the 38,128 vehicles in the same month last year.

October’s vehicle sales also went up by 1.2 percent from the 39,542 units sold in September.

CAMPI president Rommel Gutierrez said “the increase can be attributed to good sales and good stock availability, neutralizing the effect of Typhoon Kristine on the operations of dealers nationwide last month.”

While total vehicle sales increased, passenger car sales in October dipped slightly to 10,044 units from 10,087 units in the same month a year ago.

Sales of the commercial vehicle segment, on the other hand, rose by 6.8 percent to 29,959 units in October from 28,041 units in the same month in 2023.

From January to October, combined sales of CAMPI and TMA picked up by 8.9 percent to 384,310 units from 352,971 units in the same period last year.

Commercial vehicles drove the industry performance, accounting for 74 percent of total sales in the 10-month period.

In particular, 283,501 commercial vehicles were sold as of end-October, up by 7.8 percent from 262,875 units in the same period in 2023.

Meanwhile, passenger car sales from January to October climbed by nearly 12 percent to 100,809 units from 90,096 in the same period last year.

Toyota Motor Philippines Corp.  remained the leading market player with a 46.43-percent share of total vehicle sales from January to October.

Mitsubishi Motors Philippines Corp. placed second  with 19.09 percent, while  Ford Motor Co. Philippines Inc. came in third with 6.12 percent.

Completing the top five are Nissan Philippines Inc. with a 5.80-percent share and Suzuki Philippines Inc. with 4.36 percent.

Earlier, Gutierrez said CAMPI’s sales target of 468,300 units this year is doable, with demand likely to increase during the holiday season and with more new vehicle models still to be rolled out in the market.