by Kris Crismundo/PNA
Vehicle sales in February this year slightly improved by 0.6 percent to 26,327 units compared to the 26,176-unit sales in the same month in 2018, the Chamber of Automotive Manufacturers of the Philippines, Inc. (CAMPI) reported Wednesday.
Sales of passenger cars increased last month by 3.4 percent to 8,471 units from 8,192 units sold last year.
But sales in the light commercial vehicles segment slightly slipped by 0.7 percent to 17,856 units in February 2019 from 17,984 units sold in the previous year.
Among the types of commercial vehicles, Asian utility vehicles had the largest slump last month, down by 59.2 percent to 2,227 units from 5,463 units sold in February 2018.
On the other hand, sales of light commercial vehicles accelerated by 25.2 percent to 14,449 units in the previous month from 11,540-unit sales in the same month a year ago.
For the truck sub-segments, sales of light trucks jumped by 77 percent to 731 units, while trucks and buses categories four and five declined by 1.1 percent and 58.7 percent to 368 units and 81 units, respectively.
For the first two months of 2019, sales of car manufacturers in the Philippine market slowed down by 8 percent to 53,215 units from 57,821 units in the same period last year.
Both unit sales of passenger cars and commercial vehicles recorded negative growth during the first two months of the year at 5.7 percent and 9 percent, respectively.
Meanwhile, top sellers in the Philippine market for January to February 2019 period were Toyota, Mitsubishi, Nissan, Honda, and Ford.
Among the top five brands, only Nissan and Honda managed to post growths in their sales during the first two months of 2019.
