MANILA -Domestic sales of automotive vehicles continued to rise at a double-digit pace in August, while production output saw a substantial improvement a month prior despite inflationary challenges.
Data released on Thursday by the Chamber of Automotive Manufacturers of the Philippines, Inc. (Campi) and the Truck Manufacturers Association (TMA) showed that new vehicle sales reached 36,714 units during the month, revving up by 21.6 percent from the 30,185 units sold in the same month a year ago.
Campi president Rommel Gutierrez said consumer demand had remained healthy despite the challenges posed by inflation.
“The auto industry is mindful of the challenges brought by high inflation and its effect on the overall consumer confidence particularly for big-ticket items. Not a welcome news to the consumers and industry alike if it will persist,” Guiterrez said in a statement.
Philippine headline inflation stood at 5.3 percent in August, higher than the previous month’s 4.7 percent and closer to the upper end of the central bank’s expected range of 4.8 percent to 5.6 percent.
Despite recording double-digit sales growth every month since the beginning of this year, August had the weakest performance so far, next only to April’s 21.8-percent posting.
Still, the Campi official highlighted that the industry’s year-to-date performance keeps the automotive industry optimistic of a sustained and an even stronger postpandemic recovery.
From January to August, 276,215 vehicle units were sold in the Philippine market, marking a 29.8-percent growth compared to the same eight-month period in 2022.
In 2022, the number of automotive vehicles sold reached 352,596 units, which is 31.3 percent higher than the 268,488 units sold the previous year.
At the height of the global outbreak of COVID-19 in 2020, vehicle sales in the Philippines plunged by nearly 40 percent, with just 223,793 vehicle units sold during the tumultuous year.
Japanese brands continued to dominate the Philippine market during the month, with Toyota Motor Philippines Corp. maintaining a wide lead with a market share of 44.71 percent.
Mitsubishi Motors Philippines Corp. followed with an 18.42- percent market share; Ford Motor Company Phils. Inc. with 7.48 percent; Nissan Philippines, Inc. with 6.68 percent, and Suzuki Philippines Inc. with 4.20 percent.
Vehicle production
Meanwhile, the Philippines’ vehicle output growth in July reached double-digit levels once more after slowing to the single-digit range a month prior for the first time this year, marking a significant rebound along with other of its peers in the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (Asean).
Data released on Thursday by the Asean Automotive Federation, an umbrella group of industry associations from member economies of the regional bloc, showed the Philippines produced 8,961 motor vehicle units during the month.
This is 14.4 percent higher compared to the 7,832 vehicle units produced in the same month a year ago.
The July performance also puts the local automotive manufacturing on a twelve-month growth streak since August of last year, ranking second in terms of growth but remained in fifth place by production volume.
Thailand led with an output of 149,709 vehicle units while its growth sped to 4.7 percent from 1.8 percent a month prior.
Indonesia followed with a production volume of 122,656 units, with its growth rebounding to 3.5 percent from the previous month’s decline of 3.3 percent.
Malaysia ranked third with its assembly of 66,862 units, while Vietnam came next with 14,197 units.
Both saw their production output improving, with Malaysia recording a 28.4 percent growth from the previous month’s 3.1 percent decline while Vietnam’s decline eased to 18.9 percent from the previous 25.8 percent.
Myanmar produced the least number of vehicles with an output of 158 units, but had the highest growth rate at 85.9 percent.
In total, the six countries produced 362,543 motor vehicle units in July, a 7-percent increase compared to the same month last year.