Industry fissure blamed for flat car sales forecast

THE departure by four members of the Chamber of Automotive Manufacturers of the Philippines Inc. (Campi) would cause vehicle sales to stay flat this year, according to an industry source. “In my personal opinion, because of the reality that Campi and TMA won’t get reports from the four companies that are not anymore Campi members, this year’s sales figure will be flat compared with 2010,” Frank Nacua, Philippine Automotive Federation Inc. secretary general, said in an interview.

The monthly compilation of sales data is done by Campi and the Truck Manufacturers Association.

The sales report for 2010 released by the two industry groups excluded the December sales of the four car importers that left Campi, namely Hyundai Asia Resources Inc. (HARI), Focus Ventures Inc., Scandinavian Motors Corp. and The Covenant Car Co. Inc., Nacua said.

Only the end-November sales of the four companies representing five brands—Chana, Chevrolet, FAV, Hyundai and Volvo—were included in the Campi-TMA data, which showed that sales last year hit 168,490 units, up 27.2 percent from 2009 sales of 132,444 units and surpassing the record sales in 1996 of 162,095 units.

The four importers reportedly no longer submitted their December sales data to Campi.

If the end-December sales of the four car companies were gathered, the industry target of between 170,000 and 175,000 units could have been attained, said Nacua, who was formerly chairman of the TMA.

HARI’s sales in December of 1,476 units would lift the 2010 auto sales figure to 169,966 units. The local seller of Korean brand Hyundai accounted for about a tenth of last year’s vehicle sales.

The Campi-TMA report released monthly actually “does not totally reflect total industry sales,” as the sales of the importers of luxury vehicles such as Jaguar, Land Rover, Maserati and Subaru, among others, are not covered, Nacua said.

Campi has projected this year’s sales to grow between 4 percent and 5 percent to about 177,000 units.–BEN ARNOLD O. DE VERA, Manila Times