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Friday, March 29, 2024

March vehicle sales jumped 43%, hit pre-pandemic levels

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Vehicle sales jumped 43.4 percent in March from a year ago and reached the industry’s pre-pandemic levels, two groups said Monday.

The Chamber of Automotive Manufacturers of the Philippines Inc. and Truck Manufacturers Association said in a joint report their members sold 29,685 vehicles in March, up from 20,702 units delivered in the same month last year. The figure was also the highest monthly sales in the two years of the pandemic.

Monthly vehicle sales were in the range of 30,000 units before the onset of the pandemic. Month-on-month sales also improved 22.1 percent in March from 24,304 units in February. All segments posted higher sales, on a monthly basis with passenger cars sales up by 12 percent from 5,914 units and commercial vehicles increasing by 25.4 percent from 18,390 units in February.

CAMPI and TMA are composed of vehicle assemblers and importers. The Association of Vehicle Importers and Distributors Inc., another industry group, announces a separate sales report.

“March performance has already reached the industry’s pre-COVID level of sales and now the highest monthly sales recorded since the onset of the pandemic based on our data,” said CAMPI president Rommel Gutierrez.

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“This milestone is very important to the industry as this essentially gives us a positive signal of continued recovery amid the economy and business operations alike starting to normalize,” said Gutierrez.

Data showed that commercial vehicles led the rebound with 64.2 percent growth in March to 23,060 units from 14,041 units a year ago, while passenger car sales dipped slightly by 0.5 percent to 6,625 from 6,661 units.

This brought total sales in the first quarter to 74,754 units, up by 6.3 percent from 70,312 vehicles that left the dealerships in the same period last year.

Passenger car sales fell 16.2 percent in the first quarter to 18,323 units from 21,855 units a year ago, while commercial vehicle sales rebounded 16.5 percent to 57,431 units from 48,457 units.

“The industry remains ‘cautiously optimistic’ for full recovery this year as we just started the second quarter. At this point, it is indeed crucial that we remain on guard against any potential risks in achieving full economic recovery, and pre-pandemic levels of business and consumer confidence at the same time,” Gutierrez said.

Toyota Motor Philippines Corp. remained the top automotive company, accounting for nearly half of the market in March at 49.8 percent. Mitsubishi Motor Philippines Corp. ranked second with 13.84 percent, while Nissan Philippines Inc. held 7.87-percent share.

Ford Motor Company Philippines Inc. was fourth with 6.2-percent share, followed by Suzuki Philippines, Inc. with 6.09-percent market share.

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