The Philippine automotive industry expects sales to grow 10-percent to 15-percent in 2023 as carmakers agreed to bring in new models.
The Chamber of Automotive Manufacturers of the Philippines Inc. said most of its members were confident of a more stable market as the height of the health crisis had passed.
“We are optimistic that growth will continue this year. We have seen the trajectory of sales growing last year. In fact, January was a good indicator of what is to come this year,” said CAMPI president Rommel Gutierrez.
He said the 2023 sales would likely surpass the 352,596 vehicles sold in 2022. He said sales recovered from a 40-percent drop in 2020 to post a 31.3-percent rebound in 2022.
CAMPI aims to bring back sales to the pre-pandemic level of 457,110 units registered in 2019.
“I am sure there is pent-up demand and supply continues to improve. In fact we have many models coming this year. That will really boost the sales for all brands. I believe all brands are really preparing for this year’s full recovery,” Gutierrez said at the sidelines of an event organized by Toyota Motor Philippines on Monday night.
Gutierrez confirmed that challenges remained such as the limited supply of microchips for smart automotive parts.
Meanwhile, TMP unveiled plans to reintroduce an iconic Asian utility vehicle model to serve the entrepreneurial needs of micro, small and medium enterprises.
Gutierrez said the company would revive the Tamaraw brand as a light commercial vehicle that could serve as multi-purpose vehicle for business and for family use.
“Strictly speaking, we are yet to come to the part where we can call this vehicle by its model name. At the moment, this is just a concept that we are still working on, but we are yet to polish the vehicle details,” he said.
Gutierrez said this would create the possibility of adding a third completely-knocked down model in the Philippines.
He said that as the previous Tamaraw vehicle was a real work horse, the new CKD unit would be comparable to the same expectation of strength and reliability.
Toyota expressed hope that with supportive government policies on investments and the massive investments it made to create its own ecosystem in the Philippines, the third model assembly would be viable with a five-year lead time.
TMP senior vice-president and division head for marketing of new mobility and vehicle logistics Jose Maria Atienza said the new model had no form yet, except that its concept was to provide mobility solutions to MSMEs.
“What was announced was that we’ll have another CKD model in by 2024, but there is no definite schedule yet,” he said.
Toyota president Okamoto Atsuhiro revealed the company’s plans to assemble a new CKD unit in the Philippines at the sidelines of President Ferdinand Marcos Jr.’s recent visit to Japan.
Trade Secretary Alfredo Pascual said Toyota broached the concept of a third CKD in late 2022.
Pascual noted Toyota’s mobility innovations through wholly-owned unit Toyota Mobility Solutions Philippines, the largest mobility company with an expansive reach of 72 Toyota dealers nationwide and one Lexus dealer in Metro Manila.
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