Car sales rose 26.7% in first 3 quarters

Sales of passenger cars and commercial vehicles in the first nine months of 2016 rose by 26.7 percent to 261,370 units from the 206,284 posted in the same period last year, the Chamber of Automotive Manufacturers of the Philippines Inc. (Campi) and the Truck Manufacturers Association (TMA) reported recently.

Commercial-vehicle sales increased by 34.4 percent to 164,334 units in the period, while passenger-car sales rose by 15.5 percent to 97,026.

Also, Campi revealed that sales of both passenger cars and commercial vehicles climbed 16.2 percent last month to 31,451 from September 2015’s 27,089.

Commercial-vehicle sales increased by 18.2 percent to 19,341 this year from last year’s 16,366. Of that number, light commercial vehicles contributed the most with 12,174, a 9.3-percent increase from the 11,134 registered in the same month last year.

Asian utility vehicles followed, with sales jumping by 34.9 percent to 5,954; light trucks, with 754; trucks and buses with 330 for Category 4 and 129 for Category 5.

As for passenger-car sales, it grew by 13.1 percent to 12,110 last month from 10,703 in September 2015.

“With continued strong market demand and enough supply and new model introductions during the 6th Philippine International Motor Show [in] September, third-quarter sales remained strong,” Campi President Rommel Gutierrez said.

“We expect sustained growth as we enter the fourth quarter,” he added.

For the first three quarters of the year, leading car manufacturers in the Philippine market were Toyota, with a market share of 44 percent; Mitsubishi, 17 percent; Ford, 10 percent; Isuzu, 8 percent; and Honda, 7 percent. PNA