According to report of the Chamber of Automotive Manufacturers of the Philippines, Inc. (CAMPI) and the Truck Manufacturers Association (TMA), the total car sales recorded a 5.7-percent decline with 31,258 units sold in the month of November, attributed to the rising commodities and interest rates hike of high inflation.
Despite of the decline in sales, the car industry is still optimistic as the year ends.
In a press statement, Rommel Gutierrez, President of Chamber of Automotive Manufacturers of the Philippines, Inc. (CAMPI), said, “We remain confident that the industry will continue to recover as the year ends.”
“Aggregate sales for the first 11 months of the year (YTD) retracted by 14.4-percent with 325,465 units compared with 380,179 units in the same period a year ago,” explained Gutierrez.
In terms of category, the Passenger Car segment sales went down by 2.6-percent with 9,197 units in November from 9,444 units last month. While the Commercial Vehicle segment also declined by 6.9-percent with 22,061 units from 23,706 units in the previous month.
In the Asian Utility Vehicle (Category I), sales posted a negative growth of 7.8-percent, selling 3,142 units from 3,409 units a month ago.
While the category 2 (Light Commercial Vehicle) sales is down by 6.9-percent with 17,594 units from 18,896 units, the category 3 (Light Trucks), on the other hand, posted an increase of 4.4-percent with 753 units from 721 units.
The Buses (Category IV) recorded the highest decline among all the segments by 22.2-percent with 425 units from 546 units while Trucks and Buses (Category V) grew by 9.7-percent with 147 units from 134 units.
To summarize, Japanese car brand Toyota remains the market leader with 42.5-percent market share followed by Mitsubishi Motor Philippines Corporation with 19-percent.
Nissan Philippines, Inc also came in at third spot with 9.7-percent market share, followed by the resurgence of American car brand Ford and Honda Cars Philippines, Inc. with 6.6-percent and 6.5-percent, respectively.