Vehicle sales shrink 4% for entire 2011

Local vehicle assemblers ended last year with a four percent contraction over 2010 with Honda suffering the biggest loss.

Latest figures show all product categories posting decline in sales.

This was weighed down by the Japan earthquake early last year and the Thailand flooding late in the year which affected the supply chain of the industry.

The Chamber of Automotive Manufacturers of the Philippines Inc. (Campi) reported that its 16 members sold only a total of 141,616 units versus 147,488 units in 2010.

Of the sales figure, the passenger car segment contributed 44,862 units, reflecting a substantial 8 percent decrease from 48,739 units sold in 2010.

The commercial vehicle segment also declined by 2.02 percent to end the year with a lower 96,754 units as against 98,749 units sold in 2010.

In terms of product categories, the Asian utility vehicle (AUV) category was 2.5 percent down with sales of only 35,851 units from 36,783 units in 2010.

The light commercial vehicles (LCV), mostly sports utility vehicles and is the most popular vehicle category in terms of sales, contributed 57,962 units but was still 1.7 percent short compared to the 58,956 units of 2010.

Sales of light trucks posted the smallest decline of 0.6 percent with sales hitting 1,862 units from 1,873 units. While the trucks and buses category ended the year with a negative 5.1 percent to 1,079 units from 1,137 units. –Mario F. Fetalino Jr., Daily Tribune