PH auto sector still lags behind Asean peers

Region to become world’s 5th-biggest vehicle market

The Philippine automotive sector continued to lag behind its peers in the Asean (Association of Southeast Asian Nations) in terms of sales, despite posting an 18-percent sales growth as of the end of July this year.

According to data from the Asean Automotive Federation, Thailand sold the most number of motor vehicles at 839,053 units in January to July, followed by Indonesia with 714,400 units. Malaysia came in third with sales of 381,919 units while the Philippines sold only 102,913 units.

The local automotive sector is anticipating a boost in sales in the second semester to end the year with total sales of 210,000 units, according to the Chamber of Manufacturers of the Philippines Inc. (Campi).

In terms of vehicle production, the Philippines was at the bottom of the list of five with only 43,233 units as of end-July this year.

Data from the Asean Automotive Federation further showed that Thailand continued to be the top producer in Asean with 1.5 million units produced from January to July, followed by Indonesia, with 692,666 units.

Malaysia’s motor vehicle production reached 348,303 units while Vietnam produced a total of 48,092 units during the same period.

The Asean is expected to become the fifth-largest automotive market in the world by 2019. This presents global auto makers a significant opportunity to expand in the region.

An analysis by Frost and Sullivan dubbed Strategic Analysis of the Asean Automotive Outlook showed that the Asean market would likely grow at a compound annual growth rate of 5.8 percent from 2012 to 2019 to reach 4.71 million vehicles in terms of sales at the end of the period covered. This will be driven mainly by rapid expansion in the Indonesian and Thai markets.

Vijay Rao, research director for Asia-Pacific at Frost and Sullivan, said in a statement that the “low level of motorization in Asean offers strong growth potential for the automotive market, while the heavily motorized regions of Western Europe and North America represent a saturated replacement market.”

According to Rao, Indonesia is expected to emerge as the largest automotive market in the Asean by 2019, to account for 2.3 million vehicles. This will be driven by sustained economic growth in the country, growing middle classes with larger disposable incomes, increased investments in automotive sector and introduction of automotive regulations supporting market growth.

Rao further said that total vehicle production in Asean was expected to grow at a compound annual growth rate of 8 percent from 2012 to 2019 to hit 7.05 million units in 2019.

Leading the production will be Thailand, which “is likely to continue its dominance as a major production hub in Asean due to expected significant capacity expansions, increased export and domestic demand, availability of skilled labor force with a well-developed automotive component industry,” Rao said. –Amy R. Remo, Philippine Daily Inquirer