Growth in Philippine vehicle output, sales accelerated in April

MANILA — The Philippines’ vehicle manufacturing output grew by more than a fifth in April, bouncing back from the decline recorded in the previous month as sales growth also rebounded to double-digits levels.

Data released by the Asean Automotive Federation (AAF), an umbrella group of industry associations from member economies of the regional bloc, showed that the Philippines’ vehicle production was up 22.9 percent in April compared to the same month in 2023.

This translates to 9,609 vehicles produced during the month, more than the 7,818 units recorded a year in the comparable period a year ago.

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The uptrend in the Philippines vehicle production follows the 12.9 percent decline in March, the first time that output had dipped this year.

The April posting brought the country’s year-to-date output to 42,395 units, which is equivalent to a 10.8 percent growth compared with the 38,274 units produced during the same four-month period in 2023.

PH still ranks 5th in output

From a regional perspective, the Philippines still ranked fifth out of the six Association of Southeast Asian Nations (Asean) countries covered by the report.

Thailand, the biggest producer among the six, had its production shrink by 11 percent to 104,667 units.

READ: Thai February car output drops 19.3% on EV imports

Indonesia saw a shallower decline of 3 percent with its output of 72,981 units, while Vietnam recorded a 1.8 percent expansion in production after assembling 13,849 units.

Malaysia enjoyed a 38.2 percent growth as its production output soared to 72,981 units

Myanmar, which has the lowest production base, had its own growth by 1912.5 percent as output reached 161 units from the meager 8 units a year ago.

In total, the six countries produced 258,162 units in April, marking a 1.1-percent growth on an annual basis.

However, a year-to-date look showed that the overall production had declined by 12.7 percent, as output fell to 1,243,809 units from 1,424,644 units.

Improving sales

Meanwhile, sales of automotive vehicles in the Philippines grew by 21.8 percent in April on an annual basis and improved from the preceding month’s 1.6 percent growth.

The joint report released on Wednesday by the Chamber of Automotive Manufacturers of the Philippines, Inc. (Campi) and the Truck Manufacturers Association showed that 37,314 new vehicles were sold in the local market.

“On the demand side, positive consumer and business confidence plus stability in automotive finance boosted sales,” Campi president Rommel Gutierrez said in a statement.

The report showed that commercial vehicles continued to drive sales growth in April, with 27,272 units sold during the month and accounting for 73.09 percent of the total sales.

On the other hand, the sales of passenger cars reached 10,069 units and made up the remaining 26.98 percent.

Toyota Motor Philippines Corp continued to have a wide lead in the Philippines, with a market share of 48.01 percent in April.

This is followed by the Mitsubishi Motors Philippines Corporation with 18.66 percent, Ford Group Philippines with 5.78 percent, Nissan Philippines, Inc. with 3.93 percent, and Suzuki Philippines, Inc. with 4.61 percent.