PH vehicle sector bullish on 2015 prospects

The Philippine automotive industry is bullish on its growth prospects next ear as it expects vehicle sales to reach a record high of 310,000 units, on the back of a healthy economy and higher spending power.

This is equivalent to a 17-percent increase in unit sales from the 265,000 vehicles that are expected to be sold this year.

Nobuo Izumina, president of Isuzu Philippines Corp. (IPC), said Thursday night that the industry’s sales expectation next year would push the company’s own sales target to about 18,000 units in 2015.

This will be driven largely by the Isuzu mu-X, the company’s latest flagship model that is expected to sell at least 6,000 units next year.

This year, Izumina said Isuzu was on track to sell a total of 14,500 units, about 90 percent of which are assembled locally. By next year however, the share of vehicles being assembled locally will go down to less than 70 percent given the rising demand for the mu-X, which is being imported from Thailand.

IPC assistant sales division head Joseph Bautista disclosed that of the expected vehicle sales of IPC next year, 6,000 units will be imported while only 12,000 units will be produced locally.

At present, IPC assembles in its Laguna facility the D-Max, Crosswind and trucks.

According to Izumina, the company has no plans yet to further increase the capacity of its Laguna plant as it still has to be maximized.

He added that IPC can readily cater to an expected increase in demand for these models as the facility currently produces only 11,000 units.

During one shift, IPC can assemble 15,000 units at maximum capacity.

Meanwhile, Izumina disclosed that Isuzu would pursue its growth plans with or without the much delayed automotive roadmap being dangled by the government to investors.

“We don’t expect the roadmap anymore. We already gave up because it’s been two or three years already. It’s too long a wait. Also the volume required to avail ourselves of incentives at 40,000 units per model per year is impossible,” Izumina said.

“The government should support the local manufacturers and suppliers. Otherwise, many brands will import from Thailand, Indonesia or Japan. It’s still cheaper to import SUVs,” he added.