Vehicle sales up 8.7% in June

Vehicle sales grew 8.7 percent to 31,950 units in June, marking one of the fastest monthly growths posted by vehicle and truck manufacturers since the start of the year.

This was according to a joint report of the Chamber of Automotive Manufacturers of the Philippines Inc. (Campi) and the Truck Manufacturers Association (TMA). In June last year, these groups sold 29,395 vehicle units.

This is their second fastest year-on-year growth in the past six months. Year-on-year performance in April and May was flat. In March, sales grew by 14 percent.

The latest figures wrapped up the first six months after a year that got weighed down by higher excise taxes, rising oil prices, and poor consumer demand, which were due to elevated inflation.

From January to June, sales grew 1.46 percent to 174,135 units, as opposed to the 171,635 units sold in the same period last year.

“We remain very optimistic that the local auto industry is already on a path of steady growth after we conclude the first half of the year on a positive note,” said Campi president Rommel Gutierrez.

“The automotive brands’ collective efforts, highlighted by fleet sales, good financing deals, and model updates and upgrades, show that we have learned to adjust and adapt to market conditions thus helping consumers acquire new vehicles with fewer hurdles,” he added.

After sales fell 16 percent last year, the groups—whose members accounted for a bigger chunk of vehicle companies in the country—targeted a 10-percent growth for 2019. This was their worst full-year sales decline since the financial crisis in 1998.

In June, alone, passenger car sales reached 9,532 units, 22 percent higher than the level in the same month last year when 7,811 units were sold. In the first six months of the year, however, this segment posted a 6.4-percent decline in sales to 52,418 units from 56,029 units during the comparative period last year.

Commercial vehicles sold, meanwhile, reached 22,418 units, a 3.9-percent growth in June from the same month last year. This segment, which accounted for more than 67 percent of total sales, reached 121,717 units in the first six months of the year, a 5.3-percent growth.