The Association of Vehicle Importers and Distributors Inc. (AVID) reported a 38-percent growth in vehicle sales to 8,298 units in the first quarter of 2012 from 6,034 units a year ago.
In a report, AVID said the passenger car segment “greatly contributed” to the increase in total sales. Member companies’ sales of passenger cars surged by 95 percent to 5,202 units in the first three months from only 2,674 units in the same period last year.
For March alone, vehicle sales of AVID members grew by 31 percent to 2,791 units from 2,123 units sold in the same month in 2011. The March performance was driven by the 99-percent hike in passenger car sales to 1,621 units from only 813 units a year ago.
“Moving along a predominantly optimistic business and economic scenario, AVID members’ sales performance remained on an upswing. We anticipate this trend to continue as we move into the second quarter of 2012,” said AVID president Ma. Fe Perez-Agudo.
AVID expects its members’ performance to remain strong during the whole year given the business community’s bullish economic outlook for the Philippines.
The group cited the Consumer Expectations Survey of the Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas, which stated that consumer demand was expected to remain strong as Filipino consumer expectations continued to improve.
According to the AVID report, key factors such as the availability of jobs, increases in salary, government policies on good governance, sustained investment inflows and appreciation of the peso contributed to the more positive outlook.
Respondents considered the current quarter and the year ahead as a favorable time to buy consumer durable, it added.
Member companies of AVID include Hyundai Asia Resources Inc.; Mercedes Benz importer CATS Motors; Mini distributor British United Automobiles; Porsche and Audi distributor PGA Cars Inc.; Volvo importer Scandinavian Motors Corp.; and Motor Image Pilipinas.