By Kris M. Crismundo
MANILA, Jan. 12 (PNA) — The largest organization of automotive firms in the country, Chamber of Automotive Manufacturers of the Philippines, Inc. (CAMPI) and Truck Manufacturers Association (TMA), hit the 230,000-mark sales in 2014.
CAMPI and TMA reported Monday that sales in 2014 increased by 29.5 percent to 234,747 units from 2013’s overall sales of 181,283 units.
“This record performance was backed by robust sales in all product categories,” CAMPI and TMA said.
“The year 2014 ended on a very high note as the Philippine automotive industry achieved record breaking feats month after month,” they added.
Commercial vehicles contributed the largest sales in 2014 which totalled to 144,460 units, increasing by 20.2 percent from its previous year’s sales of 120,200 units.
This is followed by light commercial vehicle segment with sales of 93,589 units in 2014, up by 25.8 percent from 2013’s sales of 74,398 units.
Passenger cars sales also had a robust growth of 47.8 percent to 90,287 units in 2014 from 61,083 units in 2013.
Asian utility vehicle sales for 2014, despite its single-digit growth of 8.5 percent year-on-year, had the fourth largest sales among vehicles segments with 44,196 units being sold from 2013’s sales of 40,732 units.
The trucks segments, likewise, registered jump in sales: light trucks up by 34.9 percent to 4,029 units from 2,986 units; trucks and buses Category IV up by 48.3 percent to 2,137 units from 1,850 units; and trucks and buses Category IV up by 48.3 percent to 509 units from 234 units in 2013.
For the month of December alone, sales of CAMPI and TMA grew by 24.1 percent to 21,320 units from December 2013’s sales of 17,185 units.
Meanwhile, the whole automotive industry target sales for 2014 is at 250,000 units.
The other automotive industry organization, Association of Vehicle Importers and Distributers (AVID), has yet to release its sales for the full-year of 2014.
Sales of AVID members for January to November 2014 already pegged at 32,878 units.
This means the auto industry has surpassed its target for full-year of 2014. Combined sales of 12-month sales of CAMPI and TMA and the 11-month sales of AVID totalled to 267,625 units. (PNA)