New nameplates break into best-selling ranks

TOYOTA Wigo

A special report in the Philippine Daily Inquirer on the auto industry’s first semester sales performance shows that new nameplates have broken into or upended the best-selling ranks.

The special report, which comes out on July 29, tabulates the January to June sales figures of the top 10 performers, the top 10 nameplates, the top eight midsize SUVs/crossovers, the top 10 compact SUVs/crossovers, the top five pickup trucks, the top five multipurpose/

Asian utility vehicles, and the top five minivans in 2016 and 2015.

The special report may be expanded to include the top compact cars, the top subcompact cars, the top subcompact SUVs/crossovers, and the top mini-subcompact cars.

For easy comparison, the 2016 and 2015 tabulations will be published side by side.

For example, a peek at the list of top 10 performers list during the first semester of 2016 shows that while Toyota remains way ahead with a grand total of 72,642 units sold and Mitsubishi stays in second place, Ford has overtaken Hyundai for third place with a margin of 407 units sold over Hyundai.

Meanwhile, Honda has toppled Isuzu for fourth place by selling 623 more vehicles in the June to January 2016 period.

In the first half 2016 tabulation of the top 10 nameplates, Toyota Motor Philippines Corp. retains its predominance with six out of the top 10 bearing the  Toyota badge.

The new nameplates that broke into this list are the Toyota Wigo mini subcompact, the Mitsubishi Mirage mini subcompact, and the Ford Everest midsize SUV, squeezing out the Mitsubishi Montero Sport midsize SUV, the Ford Ranger pickup and the Honda City subcompact in the process.

FORD Everest

In the tabulation of the top eight midsize SUVs/crossovers in the first half of 2016, the Toyota Fortuner sold 2,817 more units than in the year-ago period to consolidate its hold on the No. 1 spot.

The rankings of the top three midsize SUVs in the first semester 2016 were rearranged when the Ford Everest (6,961 units sold year-to-date) grabbed second place from the Mitsubishi Montero Sport (6,789 YTD), thereby demoting the latter to third place and former third placer Isuzu mu-X (6,297 YTD) to No. 4.

But Ford has to watch out because both the Montero Sport and the mu-X may close in next sem, what with all three of them scoring sales of 6,000 units plus plus.

MITSUBISHI Mirage

Guess which nameplate claimed first place in the top 10 compact SUVs/crossovers list? For once, it’s not a Toyota or a Subaru, for that matter.

To find out the topnotcher in the above list and which pickup truck overtook the Ford Ranger in the top five pickup trucks tabulation plus other eye-popping data, watch out for our special semestral report on the last Friday of the month, July 29.