Car sales soar 21.6% in Q1

By Kris M. Crismundo / Philippines News Agency 

Automobile sales in the first quarter (Q1) of 2016 increased by 21.6 percent, a joint report of the Chamber of Automotive Manufacturers of the Philippines Inc. (Campi) and the Truck Manufacturers Association (TMA) revealed last Monday. 

Car sales from January to March reached 76,479 units from the 62,882 sold in the same period in 2015.

This robust expansion of the automotive industry was driven by double-digit growth in all vehicle segments.

“This is another remarkable achievement for the automotive industry,” Campi President Rommel Gutierrez said. “It has been a good start for 2016, and we hope that the (sales) momentum can be maintained in the coming months.”

The bulk of the Q1 sales came from commercial vehicles, with 46,683 units sold, a 23.4-percent increase from the 37,831 sold in the same period last year.

This was followed by light commercial vehicles, with total sales of 30,625 units, a 22.9-percent jump from 24,915 in last year’s January-to-March period.

Sales of passenger cars grew by 18.9 percent to 29,796 units this year, from 25,051 in 2015, while Asian utility vehicles posted an increment of 22.9 percent to 13,625 units, from 11,088.

Three-month sales of light trucks recorded a growth of 28.4 percent, selling 1,441 units this year, from 1,112 in the same period in 2015.

Likewise, trucks and buses categories IV and V posted 10.9-percent and 97.9-percent growth, respectively.

Trucks and buses category IV sold 517 units, while category V sold 475 units.

Meanwhile, month-on-month industry sales grew by 9.4 percent in March to 27,521 units from 25,150 in February.

Market leaders for the period were Toyota, Mitsubishi, Ford, Isuzu, and Honda.