PH is fastest-growing Asean auto market

The Philippines posted the fastest growth in motor vehicle sales among seven countries in the Asean, recording a 24.9-percent increase in the number of units sold  to 108,957 units from January to June this year, according to data from the Asean Automotive Federation (Asean Autofed).

This figure, however, accounted for a mere 6.8 percent of the total motor vehicle sales among seven Asean countries, which stood at 1.61 million units for the first half of the year.

According to the Asean Autofed, Indonesia continued to chalk up the biggest vehicle sales in the region at 642,323 units in the first six months of the year, followed by Thailand, which sold 440,911 units. Motor vehicle sales in Malaysia meanwhile stood at 333,142 units during the same period, while Vietnam, Singapore, and Brunei sold 54,939 units, 19,794 units, and 8,992 units respectively.

In terms of motor vehicle production, the Philippines continued to lag behind four other countries in the Asean. Total production by Indonesia, Malaysia, Philippines, Thailand and Vietnam stood at 2.04 million units in the first semester of the year.

Domestic production stood at only 42,020 units in the first five months of the year, accounting for only 2 percent of total motor vehicles produced in five Asean countries.

Thailand remained the biggest manufacturer in the region, having produced 952,685 units from January to June, followed by Indonesia with a production of 674,364 units. Ranking third would be Malaysia which manufactured 317,892 motor vehicles. Although Vietnam placed fourth with a production of 54,558 units, it recorded the fastest growth of 32.8 percent compared to the same period in 2013.

Philippine sales and production of motor vehicles are however expected to further increase over the next several years, with the expected issuance by the government of a new automotive roadmap.

The proposed automotive manufacturing roadmap is expected to contain time-bound and performance-based incentives not only for those manufacturers who can invest in their assembly lines to increase their production volumes for export, but also for those that will invest in new facilities for large components manufacturing.

Such a roadmap is meant to steer the Philippines to become a competitive manufacturing base for motor vehicles and its parts and components by 2025, and a global hub for automotive-related human resource development.