Higher rates, competition trim car sales as of July

The Association of Vehicle Importers and Distributors, Inc. (AVID) said it sold 50,164 units in the first seven months of the year, a slight decrease from the 50,505 units sold in the same period last year.

Avid said in a statement on Thursday that its sales for July alone had dropped 11 percent to 6,987 units due to higher interest rates and stiff competition.

Despite this, the group is confident that sales will pick up later this year amid expectations of more favorable market conditions.

“The downtrend in inflation and continuous surge of OFW (overseas Filipino worker) remittances are two factors that will improve consumer confidence, especially high-ticket acquisitions such as vehicles, in the coming months,”  AVID President Fe Perez-Agudo said.

“The completion of infrastructure projects, specifically road and connector links, will hopefully ease traffic and remove one of the hurdles to vehicle ownership in Metro Manila and nearby provinces,” she added.

The latest figures reflect Avid’s struggle to recover after getting weighed down by higher excise taxes, high oil prices, and by a consumer demand battered by high inflation.

Last year, Avid saw a 17-percent decrease in its volume sales as it sold 88,700 units, from 106,285 units sold in 2017.

The Chamber of Automotive Manufacturers of the Philippines, Inc. (Campi) and the Truck Manufacturers Association (TMA), which account for a larger slice of the vehicle market, also suffered from a huge sales volume decline.

Latest figures from Campi and TMA show that they collectively sold 205,945 units in the first seven months of the year, a 3.16-percent increase from the 199,628 units sold in the same period in 2018.

Avid’s passenger car sales dipped 5 percent to 17,706 units in the first seven months of the year. Light commercial vehicles, meanwhile, grew by 1 percent to 31,878 units in the same period.

The commercial vehicles segment surged by 140 percent as Hyundai led the segment with 580 units in year-to-date sales versus the same period last year.