Vehicle sales slumped 21.7 percent in June from a year ago, as the industry continued to feel the impact of higher excise taxes on passenger cars and accelerating inflation rate.
A joint report by the Chamber of Automotive Manufacturers of the Philippines Inc. and the Truck Manufacturers Association showed that sales of motor vehicles declined to 29,350 units in June from a record 37,479 units a year earlier.
Campi president Rommel Gutierrez said the double-digit decline was largely due to consumers’ prioritization of basic goods and services over big-ticket items amid rising inflation rate.
“This is a typical consumer behavior pattern when economic condition is a bit gloomy due to less favorable economic indicators. However, we remain optimistic that our sales will recover in the coming months, and hopefully a sustained growth by the end of the year,” Gutierrez said.
Passenger cars sales plummeted 42.6 percent in June to 7,766 units from 13,525 deliveries in the same month last year. Commercial vehicle sales also suffered a 9.9-percent drop to 21,584 units from 23,954 units.
Among the commercial vehicle segments, Asian utility vehicles posted the biggest decline of 31.7 percent to 5,061 units from 7,414 units. This was followed by a 5-percent drop in light trucks sales to 706 units from 749 units and a 0.6-percent reduction in light commercial vehicle sales to 15,179 units from 15,278 units.
Category IV and V trucks and buses performed well with 25 percent and 22.9 percent sales growth, respectively.
Data showed that total vehicle sales in the first six months also went down 12.5 percent to 171,352 units from 195,772 units sold in the first half of 2017.
Toyota Motor Philippines Corp. remained the biggest seller in June, with 42.7-percent market share, followed by Mitsubishi Motors Philippines Corp. with 19.5 percent and Nissan Philippines Inc. with 7.72 percent.
Ford Motor Company Philippines Inc. cornered 7.3 percent, while Honda Cars Philippines Inc. had 7.01 percent.