Car sales up 8.6% in October

Sales of vehicles in the country grew to 31,132 units in October, up 8.6 percent from the 28,667 units registered in the same month last year, the Chamber of Automotive Manufacturers of the Philippines Inc. (Campi) and Truck Manufacturers Association (TMA) reported recently.

This sales growth was mainly supported by the commercial-vehicle segment, which saw its sales increase to 19,633 units last month from 17,432 a year ago. Year-on-year, its growth was 12.6 percent.

Passenger cars also recorded positive growth, selling 11,499 units last month, a 2.3-percent increase from the 11,235 sold in October 2015.

Among subsegments, trucks and buses posted particularly robust growth. Sales of light trucks increased by 70 percent to 842 units; and trucks and buses, category IV, by 85 percent to 347 units and category V by 53 percent to 193 units.

Sales of Asian utility vehicles, meanwhile, jumped by 42.4 percent to 6,231 units in October from 4,377 in the same month last year.

Sales of light commercial vehicles slightly declined by 1.8 percent to 12,020 units last month, from 12,246 last year.

The industry’s year-to-date sales gained 24.5 percent from January to October, with sales reaching 292,502 units from the 234,951 recorded in the same period last year.

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