Robust demand for passenger cars pushed up sales of the automotive industry in the first four months by 20.7 percent to 84,141 units.
For April alone, total vehicle sales grew 18 percent year-on-year to 21,259 units, joint data from the Chamber of Automobile Manufacturers of the Philippines Inc. (Campi) and the Truck Manufacturers Association (TMA) showed.
According to Campi, sales of commercial vehicles (CV) rose 13 percent to 50,759 units from January to April this year, while passenger car (PC) sales grew by a heftier 34.5 percent to 33,382 units in the same period.
“This continuing increase in passenger car sales is an indication that the country has entered the motorization stage. This is also consistent with economists’ projection that consumer spending growth will remain strong as per capita income hopefully reaches $3,000 in 2015,” Campi president Rommel Gutierrez said in a statement.
Gutierrez noted, however, that compared to March this year, vehicle sales in April declined by 10 percent.
Campi remained confident that sales would pick up in the coming months, to enable it to hit its sales target of 310,000 units for 2015, up by 15 percent from the 269,058 units sold in 2014.
As of end April this year, Toyota Motors Philippines Corp. continued to set the pace with a 44.3-percent market share, equivalent to total sales of 37,283 units, followed by Mitsubishi Motors Philippines with 19.2 percent (16,160 units). Ford Group Philippines ranked third with an 8.2-percent share (6,905 units), while Isuzu Philippines Corp. was fourth among the automotive players with 7.6 percent (6,396 units). Rounding up the list of top automotive firms is Honda Cars Philippines with a 6.3-percent market share (5,294 units).
The local automotive industry was among the fastest-growing in the region in terms of percentage growth in vehicle sales.
In terms of actual units, however, the Philippines ranked fourth among seven Asean countries, according to the Asean Automotive Federation.
In terms of motor vehicle production, meanwhile, the Philippines remained a laggard among five Asean countries as it was able to produce only 21,285 units in the first three months of the year.
Data from the Asean Autofed showed that as of end March this year, Thailand remained the region’s biggest manufacturer, having produced 524,540 units; followed by Indonesia, with 299,409 units; Malaysia, 163,697 units; and Vietnam, 33,207 units.
The Philippine government remains hopeful of boosting vehicle production volumes with the anticipated issuance of an automotive manufacturing roadmap, 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.