Automotive industry upbeat despite lower sales

MANILA, Philippines – The local automotive industry remains upbeat despite the 1.3 percent drop in overall sales during the first eight months of this year.

For January to August, auto sales stood at only 82,081 units down from the 83,196 units sold during the same period the previous year.

However, the Chamber of Automotive Manufacturers of the Philippines Inc (CAMPI) said that they remain cautiously optimistic because the industry posted better year to date sales when compared to the previous month. The year to date decline for January to July was 2.4 percent.

“We are thankful that sales improved though slightly in terms of year to date figures. The industry remains positive and is banking on continued and stronger OFW remittances which will spur consumption coupled with auto loans seen to grow as well in the coming months,” CAMPI president Elizabeth H. Lee said. “So far, lower rates have helped auto sales,“ she added.

According to Lee, the industry remains cautiously optimistic and sees stronger sales especially with a number of recent launches that give buyers a wider range of vehicles to choose from.

She estimated that the industry will have to bring in an average of about 10,730 units to attain the flat growth target for this year.

Meanwhile, commercial vehicles continue to corner the largest sales with a 64.6 percent share of total.

Overall commercial vehicle sales declined by 1.6 percent while passenger car sales declined by less than one percent for the first eight months of the year.

Commercial vehicle sales were affected by the seasonally low-selling ‘ghost’ month partly also due to stock unavailability. August sales declined by 11.8 percent.

Lee noted that this is still relatively good considering the dire impact of the global downturn on most economies. More robust sales are expected in the coming months.

On the other hand, unit and color unavailability of most passenger car models/variants contributed to the slight decline for the period in review. Sales decreased on a month-on-month and year-to-date basis by three percent and 0.9 percent, respectively.

Light commercial vehicle sales is the sole segment that posted a year to date positive growth of 7.4 percent thanks to the popular pick up trucks, vans, and compact wagon sales. –Ma. Elisa P. Osorio (The Philippine Star)