January car sales rev up by 10.4%

The year is off to a good start for local automotive companies as January sales revved up by 10.4 percent, still mainly fueled by purchases of commercial vehicles such as trucks and buses.

A joint report by the Chamber of Automotive Manufacturers of the Philippines Inc. (Campi) and the Truck Manufacturers Association released on Thursday showed that 37,604 new vehicles were sold last month.

This translates to 10.4-percent growth from the 34,060 units sold in January last year.

READ: New high: PH vehicle sales seen to top 500,000 this year

Campi president Rommel Gutierrez said they were confident that the local industry will hit a sales milestone of 500,000 units this year following the January posting.

“Newly rolled out models and anticipated introduction of new models are some of the factors that will contribute to achieving this target,” Gutierrez said in a statement.

Data from the two automotive industry groups also showed that the commercial vehicle segment accounted for 79.45 percent of total sales during the month, a portion that is equivalent to 29,875 units.

Sales of these vehicles, which include utility vehicles such as trucks and buses, reached 29,875 units, 16.6 percent more than the 26,614 units sold a year ago.

Passenger cars accounted for the remaining 20.55 percent, but sales shrank by 8.5 percent to 7,729 units from 8.446 units.

Toyota

Electric vehicles (EVs), which include hybrid electric vehicles (HEVs), plug-in hybrid electric vehicles (PHEVs) and battery electric vehicles (BEVs), accounted for 5.36 percent of the total sales.

This is equivalent to 1,600 EV units sold during the first month of 2025.

HEVs saw the highest sales with 1,445 units rolling out in Jan. Purchases of BEVs followed with 146 units, then PHEVs with 9 units.

In terms of brands, Toyota Motor Philippines Corp. continues to have a wide lead with its market share of 48.07 percent during the month, selling 18,078 units during the month.

Mitsubishi Motors Philippines Corp. came in second with a 19.61-percent market share, followed by Nissan Philippines Inc. with 6.29 percent; Suzuki Philippines Inc., 4.74 percent; and Ford Group Philippines with 4.19 percent.