Car importers saw their volume sales increase by 55 percent in the first half of the year, despite fears that another tax on imported vehicles will hurt the industry’s recovery efforts.
The Association of Vehicle Importers and Distributors, Inc. said it sold 30,153 units in the first half of 2021, surging from 19,509 units sold in the same period last year.
In June alone, AVID sales bested its 2020 sales by 33 percent with 4,936 units sold this year compared to last year’s 3,698 units. June sales also improved over those of May, though just barely, from 4871 to 4,936 units sold.
“It has been an uphill struggle for the automotive industry, more so among importers, but the recent numbers are encouraging,” Avid president Ma. Fe Perez-Agudo said in a statement on Monday.
“As our nation progresses toward achieving herd immunity, the automotive industry has proven resilient and poised to emerge stronger than ever. With better prospects ahead, we will continue to give our best to ensure the complete recovery of the industry. This much, we owe the Filipino people,” she said.
The latest figure is an encouraging sign, especially after Avid feared a safeguard duty on imported vehicles will hurt sales.
A safeguard duty has been in place since February. The Department of Trade and Industry (DTI) imposed the measure to protect local workers in car factories from the impact of too many imports, after a DTI investigation showed a surge in imports hurt jobs in local factories.
The DTI slapped provisional safeguard duties on imported vehicles—P70,000 per imported passenger car and P110,000 per imported light commercial vehicle. This was based on their investigation on the industry’s performance from 2014 to 2018.
So far, separate data from both groups of carmakers and importers show that the industry managed to grow its sales, despite its earlier warnings that a tax on imported vehicles will hurt the industry’s recovery efforts, especially in the middle of a pandemic. INQ