By Kris Crismundo/PNA
MANILA — The combined number of vehicles sold by the Chamber of Automotive Manufacturers of the Philippines, Inc. (CAMPI) and the Truck Manufacturers Association (TMA) in October has notably improved relative to sales the previous month, a joint report released Tuesday revealed.
The combined sales of CAMPI and TMA for October 2018 increased by 6.5 percent to 33,150 units from 31,116 unit sales in September.
Sales of commercial vehicles buoyed the performance in October, growing month-on-month by 9.4 percent to 23,706 units from 21,675 units.
Passenger car sales were little changed from 9,441 units in September to 9,444 vehicles sold last month.
CAMPI President Rommel Gutierrez attributed the growth of the industry to the aggressive promotion and supply of new model units during the 7th Philippine International Motor Show last month.
“We remain optimistic that sales growth will be sustained in November, as we expect more sales from PIMS will be delivered this month,” Gutierrez said.
However, the industry posted negative sales growth compared to October 2017, when 36,511 units were sold, or 9.2 percent higher than the sales last month.
Both passenger cars and commercial vehicles posted decrements of 19.2 percent and 4.5 percent, respectively.
The year-to-date sales of the industry likewise sustained drop in sales.
CAMPI and TMA sales from January to October this year decreased by 13.3 percent to 294,207 units from 339,380 units in the same period in 2017.
Sales of passenger cars in the first 10 months of the year declined by 20.1 percent to 90,522 units from 113,341 units a year ago.
Sales of commercial vehicles registered a 9.9-percent drop, selling 203,685 units in January to October this year from 226,039 units in the same period last year.
Despite the 16.7-percent decrement in sales, Toyota Motors Philippines Corp. remained the market leader in the said period.
Other market leaders in January to October period are Mitsubishi Motors Philippines Corp., Nissan Philippines, Inc., Ford Motor Company Phils., Inc., and Honda Cars Philippines, Inc.
