Mitsubishi expects 2023 vehicle sales in PH to grow by 24%

MANILA  -The Philippine unit of Mitsubishi Motors Corp. is projecting to sell a total of 75,000 vehicle units in the local market this fiscal year,  more than a fifth of its performance in the previous year, optimistic about its sales performance for the remainder of the year.

Mitsubishi Motors Philippines Corp (MMPC) vice president for sales and marketing Cesar Ramirez Jr. on Thursday said they had already sold 43,831 units from January to July, earning them 18.9-percent market share.

Their half-year performance is about 50 percent higher compared with last year’s sales, landing them the second spot in terms of sales volume.

“There’s a sudden increase in the demand for L300s, our locally assembled models. (These include) L300, Mirage G4, and Hatchback,” Ramirez told reporters on the sidelines of the company’s 60th year anniversary celebration at the World Trade Center in Pasay.

For fiscal year 2022, MMPC sold 60,630 vehicle units, indicating that hitting its target would mean a 24- percent increase in its performance.

During the first half of the year, Ramirez said they held promotions for micro, small, and medium enterprises, driving the growth in the sale of their L300 vans.

“We also had the support of the banks in terms of bank approvals on those three models,” he added when pressed to comment on other growth drivers.

The Mitsubishi executive said further that they also expected a better sales performance during the second half of 2023, banking that consumers’ big-ticket purchases would increase.

“During the ‘ber’ months, that is when we experience the peak,” he said.

Despite this, Ramirez said there were downside risks to their projections, including the reimplementation of the excise tax on pickup trucks, among others

“The implementation of the excise tax, that will affect the industry’s (sales) volume if they implement that very soon,” he said.

House committee OKs removal of pick-up trucks’ excise tax exemption

Ramirez was referring to the passage of an expanded bill to a tax reform measure formerly called the Passive Income and Financial Intermediary Taxation Act (PIFITA) at the House of Representatives in August of last year.

PIFITA was supposed to be the fourth component of the Tax Reform for Acceleration and Inclusion Act, the first part of which had been signed into law back in 2017 under President Rodrigo Duterte.

The Department of Finance said pickup trucks have been granted special tax consideration due to their utility as workhorses for small business owners and professionals in their livelihood. INQ

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