The Association of Vehicle Importers and Distributors, Inc. (AVID) reported a total of 50,164 units sold at for the first 7 months of 2019, a slight dip of 1 percent from the 50,505 units sold in the same period last year.
The group, however, is confident that sales will pick-up in the latter part of the year with more favorable market conditions coming into play.
“The downtrend in inflation and continuous surge of OFW remittances are two factors that will improve consumer confidence, especially high-ticket acquisitions such as vehicles, in the coming months. The completion of infrastructure projects, specifically road and connector links, will hopefully ease traffic and remove one of the hurdles to vehicle ownership in Metro Manila and nearby provinces,” said AVID president Fe Perez-Agudo.
In July alone, the automotives group reached a total of 6,987 units an 11 percent decrease versus July 2018 due to higher interest rates and stiff competition.
AVID’s passenger cars (PC) segment slid by 5 percent in year-to-date sales with a total of 17,706 units compared yo 18,582 units in same period last year.
Hyundai continued to be the top contributor in PC sales with 10,565 units followed by Suzuki with 5,085 sold since the start of the year.
The light commercial vehicles (LCV) segment grew by 1 percent or 31,878 units sold in the first seven months of the year from 31,671 units.
The segment continues to be AVID’s top volume driver led by Ford with 12,217 units followed by Hyundai with 8,645 units.
The commercial vehicles (CV) segment grew by 140 percent as Hyundai led the segment with 580 units versus 242 units during the same period last year.
CV sales were expected to remain strong in lockstep with increased government spending and economic activity.
AVID continues to work closely with key partners in the private and public sectors to push for sustainable mobility and responsible technology.
Recently, AVID members attended and joined the 7th Philippine Electric Vehicle Summit (PEVS). During the summit, representatives from various industries discussed the challenges and solutions in mainstreaming electric automotives.
“We are at the cusp of a new age in automotive as evidenced by the resources being poured by carmakers all over the globe into their electric technologies. In the Philippines, government and infrastructure support are still being set-up but the EV landscape is bound to get even bigger,” Agudo said.