Local Car Sales up 35.5% in First Quarter
Automotive sales grew by 35.5 percent in the first quarter of the year, with increases registered in all vehicle categories except light trucks.
The Chamber of Automotive Manufacturers of the Philippines Inc. (Campi) reported that in the January to March period, the industry sold a total of 38,709 vehicles, helped mainly by the new model introductions and aggressive financing packages offered by the brands.
In March alone, the industry sold 14,373 units, 33.8 percent higher compared with the same month in 2009.
“The strong first-quarter result augurs well for the whole auto industry. We will have to revise our original forecast upwards given the first-quarter trend. We are looking forward to continued strong sales in the coming months compared to the same period last year,” Elizabeth Lee, Campi president, said in a statement.
Campi originally set a 4-percent sales growth target for the year.
Passenger cars grew by 26.5 percent year-to-date, selling a total of 13,009 units.
On the other hand, the entire commercial-vehicles segment grew by a whopping 40.6 percent for the period with a total of 25,700 units.
Breaking the commercial vehicles by category, sales of Asian utility vehicles (AUVs) went up by 32.5 percent to 8,385 units, while light commercial vehicles registered a 48.9-percent increase to 16,809 units. Trucks and buses had total sales of 166 units, an increment of 6.4 percent.
Only the light trucks segment suffered a decline, registering 32.4-percent sales drop for the period to only 340 units.
Toyota maintained its market leadership with year-to-date sales of 12,341 units, up 26.3 percent and a market share of 31.9 percent.
Mitsubishi remained at second with sales of 7,184 units (up 47.8 percent). It is followed by Hyundai with 4,572 units (up 107.3 percent), Honda with 4,500 units (down 0.2 percent), Isuzu, 2,405 units (up 26.8 percent); Ford plus Mazda, 1,926 units (up 20.1 percent); Universal Motors, 1,452 units (up 21.4 percent); Columbian Autocar, 1,434 units (up 63.9 percent); Suzuki Philippines, 949 units (up 91.7 percent) and Nissan Motor Philippines, 693 units (up 76.3 percent).
“A slew of new model introductions added to the increase in sales coupled with continued aggressive financing programs offered, giving buyers plenty of choices with easy- to-own packages that make owning a vehicle more accessible and available to a larger group of consumers,” Lee said.
Business Mirror
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