Vehicle sales dropped 4.1% in first 8 months

SLUGGISH Sales of vehicles in the Philippines dropped by 4.1 percent in the first eight months from last year, based on figures provided by the Chamber of Automotive Manufacturers of the Philippines. AFP photo

Vehicle sales in the first eight months of the year continued to be sluggish, falling 4.1 percent to 93,108 units, from the 97,122 units reported in the same period last year.

“Sales of some models were hampered since deliveries were still catching up with the demand,” the Chamber of Automotive Manufacturers of the Philippines Inc. (Campi) said in a statement Thursday.

According to Campi data, sales had actually gone up slightly from July to August due to “continuing supply improvement coupled with relentless marketing efforts.”

But this improvement was not enough to pull up year-to-date sales and register even a single-digit growth.

Sales in August alone reached 11,558 units, a 0.1-percent rise from July’s 11,550 units.

Compared with August 2010 sales, however, last month’s performance was down 5.4 percent from 12,217 units.

Almost all vehicle categories, except light trucks and buses, suffered a decline in sales.

Passenger car sales dropped 3.2 percent to 31,290 units in the January-August period, from 32,328 units the previous year.

Commercial vehicle sales likewise declined to 61,818 units as of end-August—4.6 percent worse than the 64,794 units sold last year.

The sub-categories of Asian utility vehicles and light commercial vehicles both registered drop in sales of 4.3 percent and 5.4 percent, respectively.

In the first eight months of 2011, sales of AUVs fell to 23,046 units from the 24,093 units seen last year.

Also, sales of LCVs dropped to 36,899 units from 39,010 units in 2010.

But light trucks and buses bucked the downtrend, registering rise in sales of 6.2 percent to 1,221 units and 20.5 percent to 652 units, respectively.

Toyota Motor Philippines Corp. continued to lead the pack, with January-August sales reaching 34,190 units. The automaker accounted for a market share of 36.7 percent.

Mitsubishi Motors Philippines Corp. was a far second, with sales hitting 21,812 units for a 23.4-percent share of the pie.

These data only covered sales registered by Campi member-firms, and did not include those of Hyundai Asia Resources Inc., the industry’s overall No. 3 player in terms of sales volume.