Automotive sales rose 20 percent in May to 39,998 units from 25,799 units in April, driven by the strong sales of commercial vehicles and the rebound of passenger cars.
A joint report by the Chamber of Automotive Manufacturers of the Philippines Inc. and the Truck Manufacturers Association, however, said the May sales grew just 1.2 percent from 30,620 units year-on-year.
CAMPI president Rommel Gutierrez attributed the double-digit month-on-month growth to the long holidays in April, strong promotional campaigns and new model launches that auto companies announced in time for the summer season and the national elections.
“More than a slight positive uptick, May 2019 saw double-digit growth reminiscent of the auto industry’s impressive performance from two years ago. If this trend continues, we can say that the market has already adjusted or even recovered from certain factors that have been affecting car sales since 2018,” he said.
Passenger car sales rose 18.2 percent to 9,053 units in May from 7,661 units in April despite a year-on-year drop of 3.7 percent.
Sales of commercial vehicles reached 21,945 units, up 21 percent from April sales of 18,138 and 3.4 percent from the May 2018 sales of 21,219 units.
Among the commercial vehicle line-up, sales of medium-duty trucks and buses dropped 8.7 percent to 348 from 381 units in April, still a great improvement from a sales decline of 28.2 percent from 485 units in May.
The rest of the commercial vehicles posted higher month-on-month sales output of 46.6 percent to 3,192 units for Asian utility vehicles; 17,629 units or 17.9 percent higher for light commercial vehicles; 639 units, up 19.9 percent for light trucks and buses; and 137 units or 48.9 percent higher for heavy duty trucks and buses.
Commercial vehicles led the growth with a 5.6-percent increase in sales to 99,299 units in the first five months of 2019 from 94,022 units during the same period in 2018, while passenger cars sales slowed 11 percent to 42,886 from 48,218 units.