Auto sales up 22% led by commercial vehicles
Posted on December 09, 2016
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AUTO SALES in November rose 22.2% from a year earlier, boosted by promotional offers, with robust demand expected to continue through to the end of the year, industry representatives said.
In the 11 months to November, the industry has sold 325,468 units, up 24.3% from the first 11 months of 2015.
“The good sales performance last November was because of enticing promotions and events matched with good demand. With robust demand, especially this Christmas season, we expect stable to higher sales by December,” Rommel R. Gutierrez, president of CAMPI and a first vice-president at Toyota Motor Philippines (TMP) said in a statement.
As early as October, the industry has surpassed its 2015 sales total. In the 10 months to October unit sales amounted to 292,502 units, as against the 2015 total of 288,609 units.
Commercial vehicles, which made up the bulk of total industry sales at 62.92%, accounted for 20,823 units in November, up 27.5% from a year earlier.
This brings total sales for the category in the first 11 months to 204,790 units, up 31.3%. The industry said sales were supported by the availability of ample stock.
Sales of Asian utility vehicles rose 28% to 6,449 units in November. On the other hand, light commercial vehicles — mostly pickups and suburban utility vehicles — rose 24.8% to 12,905 units.
Sales of light trucks and buses surged 84.7% to 968 units in November.
Meanwhile, sales of category-4 Heavy Duty Trucks and Buses rose 40.9% to 365 units in November, while those in category 5 fell 18.1% to 136 units.
Car sales rose 14% to 12,143 units in November. Year-to-date growth in sales was 13.9%, to 120,678 units.
The growth within the car segment is expected to continue next year, according to Fitch Group’s BMI Research which released a market outlook on the local automobile industry yesterday.
Toyota Motor Philippines Corp. kept its lead with 44.34% market share. Mitsubishi Motors Philippines Corp. followed with 17.14%. Ford Motor Philippines, Inc. had 9.37% of the market, while Isuzu Philippines Corp. took 7.50% and Honda Cars Philippines, Inc. 6.27%.
BMI Research expects car sales to sustain their momentum next year, with growth projected at 19.2%, driven by high consumer confidence and robust private consumption.
“We expect the strong growth momentum observed in the Filipino autos market in 2016 to carry over into 2017, with forecast growth of 19.2% in new passenger car sales for the year,” it said.
The Fitch Group unit said that this is based on an assumption of economic growth of 6.3% in 2017, supported by the government’s expansionary fiscal stance, an investment boom, and strong services exports.
It also noted that the peso’s depreciation will be positive for remittances, strengthening the purchasing power of households receiving funds from overseas.
Rising inflation next year will not significantly affect consumer spending, as BMI Research projects CPI growth to average 3.3% next year, up from the estimated 2% average in 2016, but still within the central bank’s target range of 2%-4%.
