Production of motor vehicles in the Philippines went up by almost a fifth in October but continued to lag behind those of other Asean countries including Thailand , Indonesia, Malaysia and Vietnam.
Data from the Asean (Association of Southeast Asian Nations) Automotive Federation, an umbrella group of industry associations from member economies of the regional bloc, showed that the Philippines produced 10,105 units in October, up 20.1 percent from the 8,417 units recorded in the same month in 2021.
This puts the year-to-date production to 73,823 units, which is 2.9 percent more compared to the 71,758 units that were produced during the same 10-month period last year.
The Philippines’ ranked fifth among six Asean member economies in terms of total output this year, far behind that of Indonesia, Thailand, Malaysia, Thailand and Vietnam.
Thailand is still in the top spot, producing 1.6 million units from January to October this year, up by 17.1 percent from last year.
This is followed by Indonesia with 1.2 million units, Malaysia with 567,752 units and Vietnam with 203,062 units.
Myanmar produced the least number of vehicles with 3,101 units.
Back in 2021, the Philippines also ranked fifth among the six countries in terms of vehicle output, producing a total 83,846 units for the entire year.
The Philippine’s vehicle output stood at 67,297 units in 2020, 95,094 units in 2019 and 79,763 in 2018.
Motorcycle, scooter production
In terms of motorcycle and scooter production, the Philippines ranked second compared to two other countries that have available data.
Vehicle assembly operations in Thailand produced the most with 1.65 million units, up 15.6 percent from the 1.42 million units during the same period last year.
From January to October, the Philippines produced 770,538 units, which is slightly higher by 5.9 percent compared to the 727,778 units in 2021.
Malaysia, which ranked third, produced 557,587 units, growing by 47.5% when compared to the 378,028 units made in 2021.
In 2021, the Philippines produced 867,453 units of motorcycles and scooters, which is up 32 percent compared to 2020’s 655,440 units.
Before the pandemic, the Philippines was producing these two-wheeled vehicles in the millions during the last four years, with 1,161,646 units in 2019, 1,258,566 units in 2018, 1,173,883 units in 2017, and 1,040,626 units in 2016.