A banner year for local auto industry in ’09: sales up 6.4%

MANILA, Philippines – The local auto industry had a banner year in 2009 as it experienced sales growth across categories, except Asian utility vehicles (AUVs), and finished the year with a 6.4-percent sales increment from 2008 for a full-year total of 132,444 units.

Passenger-car sales went up by 4.1 percent to 46,228 units.

The commercial-vehicle category consisting of AUVs, light commercial vehicles (LCVs), light trucks, and trucks and buses collectively grew by 7.7 percent to 86,216 units for a market share of 65.1 percent.

LCV sales expanded 15.8 percent to 52,709 units, light trucks grew by 13.4 percent to 2,027 units, and trucks and buses exceeded 2008 sales by 17.7 percent to 1,219 units.

Only the AUV segment posted a sales decline with only 30,262 units sold in 2009, down 4.5 percent from 2008.

Elizabeth Lee, president of the Chamber of Automotive Manufacturers in the Philippines Inc., lauded the industry’s performance in 2009, considering the anemic sales in the first half of the year that prompted the industry to peg its target to a flattish full-year growth.

Auto sales after June 30, 2009, was still 2.4 percent lower at 59,910 units compared with the first-half sales in 2008.

However, the second half of 2009 saw a surge in sales, punctuated by the December yield of 13,596 units, the industry’s highest singular monthly sales volume in a decade.

“Although December sales were expected to be seasonally higher, the stronger spike in December sales was a welcome result. This augurs well for 2010,” Lee said.

The industry is projecting a conservative 4-percent growth for 2010, subject to quarterly review depending on changes in the market.

“Factors that will affect stronger sales for 2010 include fleet deliveries to the national and local government, relatively good economic growth forecast of about 4.4 percent, improved demand resulting from higher OFW remittances of at least 7-percent growth, which in turn will likely support the peso, election spending, aggressive promotions from auto players and expected new model introductions; 2010 should be an exciting year for all,” Lee said.

Toyota remained as the market leader with total 2009 sales of 46,193 units, up 0.6 percent from 2008 and a share of 34.9 percent.

Mitsubishi ended the year with the second-highest sales at 23,247 units (up 32.5 percent). It is followed by Honda with 17,168 units (up 20.1 percent); Hyundai, 11,086 units (up 8.7 percent); Isuzu, 9,213 units (down 8.8 percent); Ford plus Mazda, 8,184 units (up 5.6 percent); Universal Motors, 5.071 units (up 5.9 percent); Columbian Autocar, 3,761 units (down 14.6 percent); Suzuki, 2,627 units (up 20.4 percent); and Nissan Motor Philippines, 2,395 units (down 18.6 percent). –Max V. De Leon, BusinessMirror