Who sold the most cars in PH in 2014?

MANILA, Philippines–The numbers are finally in and to the victors go the bragging rights.  The race for sales in 2014 consumed the competitive energies of auto industry players, resulting in a record-breaking 269,492 vehicles sold that surpassed the 250,000 units forecast by the Chamber of Automotive Manufacturers of the Philippines Inc. (Campi).

The 269,492 figure is the sum total of 234,747 units sold by Campi members and 35,565 units sold by Association of Vehicle Importers and Distributors (Avid) members, deducting from Campi the 820 of CATS Motors, which is a member of both Campi and Avid.

The unprecedented surge in sales was made possible, of course, by the continued robust growth of the Philippine economy last year as well as by the marketing efforts of car manufacturers, importers and dealers.  A new hierarchy has emerged with two challengers breaking into the top five.

TOYOTA. Everyone expected Toyota Motor Philippines (TMP) to lead the way as usual and to bag the Triple Crown (No. 1 in Passenger Car Sales, No. 1 in Commercial Vehicle Sales, No. 1 in Overall Sales) for the 13th consecutive year, which it did.  But not many expected TMP to astound everyone by posting total sales of 106,110 units, the first in Philippine automotive history to achieve this goal.

Because of TMP’s 40 percent jump in sales in 2014 compared to 2013, the company won entry into the prestigious circle of Toyota distributors worldwide which register more than 100,000 sales yearly.  TMP president Michinobu Sugata says that the company’s original objective was to sell 100,000 units by 2018, but reached it four years early.

And as if that were not enough, TMP topped the best-seller list in seven of eight segments: 1) Camry, best-selling medium passenger car; 2) Corolla Altis, best-selling compact passenger car; 3) Vios, best-selling car model (for 12 consecutive years); 4) Wigo, best-selling low-cost hatchback passenger car; 5) Innova, best-selling multipurpose vehicle; 6) Hiace, best-selling utility van; 7) Fortuner, best-selling commercial vehicle.

The only segment that TMP failed to top last year was the pickup truck category, where the Ford Ranger reigned supreme and in the process won the 2014-2015 Truck of the Year Philippines trophy of the Car Awards Group, Inc.

However, at the Toyota media thanksgiving party last Friday, someone who looked like TMP vice chair Alfred Ty told me that an all-new Hilux will be launched in 2016 to vie in the hotly contested pickup truck segment.

MITSUBISHI. Meanwhile, Mitsubishi Motors Philippines (MMP) reported sales totaling 50,085 units in 2014, a 16 percent increase over 43,176 in 2013, thereby retaining the No. 2 spot in the car wars.

MMP has been in the country for more than 50 years and was the first assembler to reach the 500,000 unit cumulative production level—581,671, to be exact, at its Cainta plant where it began assembling in 1964.

MMP acquired Ford’s former Greenfield auto plant in Sta. Rosa, Laguna last year for P3 billion and formally inaugurated it last Thursday.  MMP will move its operations from Cainta to the Sta. Rosa plant, which has an annual production capacity of 50,000 units and room for the P2 billion stamping plant that the company plans to build.

HYUNDAI.  Although Hyundai Asia Resources Inc. (Hari) did not launch any new models last year except for the Grand Santa Fe and Grand i10, the distributor of Korea’s biggest carmaker managed to retain the No. 3 spot with total sales of 23,019 units, a modest 4 percent improvement from 22,033 in 2013.

A 4 percent growth may be rated flat by some, but 23,019 still posts a comfortable margin over Ford Philippines’ 20,341 units and represents 8.8 percent of the market. While commercial vehicle sales declined, Hyundai passenger cars sales increased 17 percent in 2014 with 16,117 units sold compared to 13,774 in 2013.

FORD. Pushed by aggressive marketing, Ford Philippines sales rose 53 percent year on year to 20,341 units in 2014, scoring record sales for the second consecutive year and ranking it No. 4 in the top five circle.

In December alone, sales surged by 55 percent to 1,903 units, making the fourth quarter Ford’s best ever with 5,777 units sold.

The Ranger led the way as Ford’s best-seller, hitting 70 percent growth over 2013 with 7,996 units.  In December, Ranger sales grew 87 percent over the year-ago period with 956 units sold.

The EcoSport subcompact crossover followed with a total of 5,203 units sold since its intro in January 2014.  In December, 537 units of the EcoSport were sold.

The Everest midsize SUV and Fiesta subcompact passenger car with its award-winning EcoBoost engine also made major contributions to Ford’s sales volume last year.

ISUZU.  In 2014, Isuzu Philippines Corp. (IPC) recorded sales of 14,134 units, a 19.9 percent growth over the previous year’s 11,795, giving IPC fifth place in the car wars.

After the intro of the mu-X midsize diesel SUV on Sept. 9 to replace the Alterra, sales leaped to triple digit growth.

The mu-X lifted IPC’s monthly sales from 1,000 units to an average of over 1,400 units, obviously due to consumer recognition of Isuzu’s strong and durable, leading-edge diesel engine technology.

In the last four months of 2014, the mu-X accounted for more than half of IPC’s sales increase versus 2013’s year-ago quarter with 1,719 units sold.

At the same time, sales of the D-Max pickup truck grew from 2,398 units in 2013 to 3,803 in 2014.

IPC also sells the N Series business use trucks, sales of which increased from 2,386 in 2013 to 3,125 in 2014.

LOOKING FORWARD.  Toyota is by no means resting on its laurels, although with 45 dealer outlets nationwide, TMP aims to sell 110,000 vehicles this year—a modest increase over the 106,110 sold in 2014.

Perhaps it is in step with its parent company’s forecast in Tokyo last month that its 2015 global vehicle sales will drop by 1 percent to 10.15 million units as Toyota CEO Akio Toyoda wants to steer the company through measured, profitable growth rather than chase volumes.

By 2020, TMP aims to sell 200,000 vehicles, Sugata announced last week. For starters, TMP launched the 2015 Alphard premium minivan and the new Prius C hybrid in Makati last Thursday.

TMP assembles the Vios and Innova locally and depending on the long-awaited Comprehensive Automotive Resurgence Strategy (CARS) of the government, may expand production to include the Fortuner.

Mitsubishi’s sales target this year is 62,000 vehicles, up by 24 percent over 2014, with 100,000 unit sales aimed for 2020.

MMP originally planned to invest P10 billion to expand its operations, but decided instead to buy the Ford plant for P3 billion and invest P2 billion for a stamping plant.

Further investments will depend on the release of the government’s CARS program, MMP president Hikosaburo Shibata said. MMP assembles the Adventure compact AUV and the L-300.

Hyundai is aiming for 25 percent sales growth this year to increase market share to 12 percent from the current 8.8 percent.

Last December, Hari unveiled the all-new 2015 Sonata executive sedan.  This year, Hari will introduce three new models: the 2015 editions of the Tucson compact SUV, the i20 supermini and the i30 hatchback.

Hari CEO Ma. Fe Perez-Agudo is concurrently the president of Avid.  Hari does not produce any Hyundai vehicles locally.

Ford is tight-lipped about its 2015 sales targets in the Philippines, but Ford Philippines managing director Kay Hart has announced that the 2015 iterations of the Everest, Escape premium compact SUV, Mustang sports car and Expedition full-size premium SUV will be rolled out this year.

Ford has 37 full service dealerships nationwide with the newest, Ford Alabang rated as the biggest in the Philippines and Southeast Asia.  Ford no longer assembles vehicles here, having moved out of its Sta. Rosa plant in 2012 to take advantage of lower production costs in Thailand.

With four upgraded, EcoBoost-powered models coming, plans to open more dealerships this year and the Ranger’s total domination of the lucrative pickup truck segment, Ford seems to have nowhere to go but further up.

Isuzu aims to sell 18,000 vehicles this year, broken down as follows: 6,000 units of the mu-X, 4,000 Crosswinds, 4,000 D-Max pickups and 4,000 N Series business use trucks.

IPC imports the mu-X from Thailand and assembles the Crosswind, the D-Max and trucks at its Sta. Rosa plant.  The IPC plant can produce 30,000 units a year on two shifts, but now produces only 10,000 on a single shift.

IPC president Nobuo Izumina projects total sales of Campi and Avid members to hit 310,000 units this year.  He told reporters that IPC has given up on the government’s CARS program, having waited three long years for its release. IPC will go ahead with its own plans, he said.

TOP FIVE. So there you have it—the car war winners of 2014 are: 1) Toyota; 2) Mitsubishi; 3) Hyundai; 4) Ford; 5) Isuzu.  Ford and Isuzu are the newcomers to the magic circle. Honda and Nissan have a lot of catching up to do.