Hyundai vehicle sales down 8.8% in July

Hyundai Asia Resources Inc. (Hari), the official distributor of Hyundai vehicles in the country, saw an 8.8 percent decline in its sales in July from the same month last year.

Despite the drop, however, the company said July was still its “best performing month” as sales breached the 3,000-unit mark.

July sales hit 3,279 units, lower than the 3,594 units sold a year ago.

This was despite the substantial year-on-year increase in sales under the light commercial vehicle segment, which introduced its subcompact SUV model, the New Kona.

The New Kona accounted for 13 percent of total sales for that month.

Hari saw its sales drop 8.2 percent to 19,236 units in the first seven months of the year from 20,960 units sold in the same period last year.

“In the midst of all the uncertainty faced by the automotive industry, Hyundai has proven itself to weather the odds with its strong start in the second half of the year. Expect more to come for the rest of 2018 as we will not let this ‘Kona moment’ pass us by,” said company president and CEO Ma. Fe Perez-Agudo.

The vehicle industry has seen its sales decline in the past months under the weight of the TRAIN law, a tax reform package that imposed higher excise taxes on most vehicles.

Hari’s light commercial vehicle segment grew 58.3 percent in July, selling 1,630 units from 1,030 units in the same month last year.

The segment also grew 6.2 percent year-to-date to 6,749 units from 6,357 units.

Passenger cars fell 35.7 percent to 1,649 units in July from 2,564 units previously. Year-to-date sales dropped 14.5 percent to 12,487 units from 14,603 units.