By Kris M. Crismundo
MANILA, June 9 (PNA) — The country’s automotive industry remains bullish after sustaining a double-digit sales growth for five consecutive months.
Chamber of Automotive Manufacturers of the Philippines, Inc. (CAMPI) and Truck Manufacturers Association (TMA) reported Tuesday that the industry’s sales for the month of May increased by 18 percent to 23,139 units from 19,598 units being sold in May 2014.
CAMPI noted that the 27-percent growth in sales of passenger car supported the strong industry sales for May 2015.
Sales of passenger cars increased to 9,556 units this year from 7,507 units in May 2014.
Commercial vehicle sales remained the largest in May 2015 with total volume of 13,853 units from 12,091 units in the same period last year.
Light commercial vehicle sales had an increment of 19 percent to 9,088 units in May 2015 against 7,645 units being sold in May 2014.
On the other hand, Asian utility vehicle slightly declined by 2.3 percent to 3,875 units this year versus 3,966 units last year.
On truck segments, light trucks sales went up by 21 percent while trucks and buses categories IV and V both increased sales by 13 percent and 141 percent, respectively.
Meanwhile, five-month sales of CAMPI and TMA grew by 20 percent to 107,280 units this year against 89,335 units in the same period last year.
“The consistent growth in sales is a continued manifestation of the trust and confidence of consumers in the attractive products and services that are being offered,” said CAMPI President Atty. Rommel Gutierrez.
“CAMPI welcomes the passage of Executive Order 182, the Comprehensive Automotive Resurgence Strategy (CARS). With the onset of motorization, this program will give opportunity for local manufacturers to boost their competitiveness and help strengthen the manufacturing sector to be regionally competitive,” he added.
Market leaders for the month May were Toyota with market share of 44.6 percent; Mitsubishi with 19.2 percent market share; Ford with 8.0 percent market share; Isuzu with 7.5 percent market share; and Honda with 6.3 percent market share. (PNA)