Vehicle sales continue to recover in July

Vehicle sales went up 13.5 percent in July to 31,810 units, as manufacturers continued on their path to recovery after a difficult slump last year.

This was according to a joint report by the Chamber of Automotive Manufacturers of the Philippines Inc. (Campi) and the Truck Manufacturers Association. In July last year, they sold 28,038 units.

The groups started the second half of the year on a positive note, bringing sales in the first seven months to 205,945 units, up 3.16 percent from the 199,628 units sold in the same period in 2018.

This was also the second month in a row that the groups enjoyed an increase in their year-on-year sales after their performance in 2018 got weighed down by higher excise, high oil prices and a consumer demand battered down by high inflation.

“It is noteworthy that positive factors such as continued and strong sales campaigns and stable supply of units have outweighed the unfavorable effects of the off-peak season to the overall sales growth,” Campi president Rommel Gutierrez said in a statement.

“Historically, July is considered as one of the lean months of the industry. Nonetheless, we are optimistic that if we are able to sustain this growth trend, we will be able to exceed our sales performance of last year,” he added.

After sales fell 16 percent last year, the groups target a 10-percent growth for 2019. Last year was their worst full-year sales decline since the financial crisis in 1998.

Last July, the groups sold 9,397 units of passenger cars, 34.7-percent higher than the 6,975 units sold in the same month last year. From January to July, however, sales under this segment fell 1.8 percent to 61,815 units.

Commercial vehicles, on the other hand, saw a 6.4-percent increase to 22,413 units in July. In the first seven months of the year, the segment sold 144,130 units, up by 5.5 percent. —ROY STEPHEN C. CANIVEL