Auto sales jump 13% last month – report

Automobile sales posted double-digit growth in July on the back of strong sales campaigns and stable supply of units, an industry report revealed on Wednesday.

Data from a joint report of the Chamber of Automotive Manufacturers of the Philippines Inc. (Campi) and the Truck Manufacturers Association (TMA) showed that 31,810 units were sold last month, up 13 percent from 28,038 in the same month last year, but down from 31,950 in June 2019.

Sales in the passenger-car segment increased by 34.7 percent to 9,397 units in July from last year’s 6,975, while those in the commercial-vehicle segment grew by 6.4 percent to 22,413 from 21,063 in July 2018.

Year-to-date, total industry sales increased by 3.16 percent to 205,945 units from 199,628 units on the back of the higher sales of commercial vehicles.

“It is noteworthy that positive factors, such as continued and strong sales campaigns and stable supply of units, have outweighed the unfavorable effects of the off-peak season to the overall sales growth,” Campi President Rommel Gutierrez said in a separate statement.

“Historically, July is considered as one of the lean months of the industry. Nonetheless, we are optimistic that if we are able to sustain this growth trend, we will be able to exceed our sales performance of last year,” he added.

Cars sold by Toyota Motors Philippines Corp., which has a 44.39-percent market share, jumped by 25.3 percent to 14,120 from 11,265 a year ago.

Mitsubishi Motors Philippines Corp., with a market share of 17.31 percent, came next with 5,507 units sold, up 3.5 percent from 5,321 a year earlier.

Nissan Philippines Inc. sold 3,651 units in July, a 27.3-percent improvement from 2,869 last year, accounting for 11.48 percent of total auto sales.

Year-to-date, Toyota remained the market leader, with sales reaching 87,574 units, up 3.8 percent from the year-ago figure, Mitsubishi followed with 35,977 units, down 7.3 percent; and Nissan, 24,711 units, up 53.6 percent.