Thailand floods lead to dip in Philippine vehicle sales

MANILA, Philippines—The flooding in Thailand has taken its toll in the local automotive industry as vehicle sales slightly fell by 1.9 percent to 131,242 units in the first 11 months of the year from 133,739 units during the same period in 2010.

A joint report by the Chamber of Automotive Manufacturers of the Philippines, Inc. (Campi) and Truck Manufacturers Association (TMA) showed that vehicle sales for November alone likewise fell by 10.4 percent to 12,090 units, from 13,489 units in the same month in 2010.

CAMPI said the drop in sales was due to seasonality and the initial effect of the Thailand crisis, which limited the supply of some models.

In particular, the decline was reflected in the decreases in the sales of passenger car (PC) and commercial vehicle (CV) segments, which can be attributed to supply constraint and delayed arrival of units.

Passenger car sales fell by 5.6 percent to 41,789 units in the first 11 months of the year, from 44,252 units in the same period in 2010, while commercial vehicle sales dipped by only 0.04 percent to 89,453 units from the previous year’s 89,487 units.

Sales of light trucks similarly fell by a slight 0.7 percent to 1,708 units as of the end of November 2011 from 1,720 units a year ago.

Toyota Motor Philippines Corp. maintained its top spot in the industry, as its sales in the first 11 months reached 50,610 units, cornering a market share of 38.31 percent.

Mitsubishi Motors Philippines Corp. came second, with sales reaching 30, 175 units during the same period, and grabbing a 21.94 percent market share.

On the third, fourth and fifth spots were Ford Motor Co. Phils. Inc., Honda Cars Philippines Inc. and Isuzu Philippines Corp.

Last month, Campi had already warned that while Japans situation had started to ease, the industry was in for another tough ride because of the flooding in Thailand.

“With the supply situation in Japan moving toward normalization, the automotive industry is bracing itself for the possible impact of another natural disaster being experienced in Thailand. Floods have inundated several vehicle and parts manufacturing plants in Thailand, resulting in the shutdown of their operations,” Campi earlier said.