PH vehicle sales surged 23% to 288,609 units in 2015

The Philippine automotive industry continued its stellar performance in 2015 as it booked a strong double-digit growth of 23 percent in vehicle sales to 288,609 units.

For December alone, local automotive players posted a 25-percent growth to 26,679 units from the 21,320 units sold in the same month in 2014, a joint report from the Chamber of Automotive Manufacturers of the Philippines Inc. (Campi) and the Truck Manufacturers’ Association showed.

“The year 2015 is yet another milestone year. The industry was able to maintain the growth momentum of previous years. We again surpassed our annual target of 272,000 units for Campi,” Campi president Rommel Gutierrez said in a statement.

Toyota Motor Philippines Corp. continued to dominate the automotive market last year with a 43.32-percent market share, which was equivalent to 125,027 units. Mitsubishi Motors Philippines Corp. remained the second biggest player with an 18.74-percent share (54,087 units), followed by Ford Motor Co. with an 8.79 percent share (25,372 units), Isuzu Philippines Corp., with 7.82 percent (22,581 units) and Honda Cars Philippines Inc., with 6.69 percent (19,315 units).

According to Campi, most categories performed well in 2015. Sales of passenger cars for instance grew by 33.3 percent in December last year and by 28.9 percent to 116,381 units for the whole year of 2015.

“Sales grew in this segment as new car models were introduced and financing strategies were intensified throughout the year,” Campi explained.

Sales of commercial vehicles similarly saw a double-digit growth of 20.4 percent in December 2015 to 16,218 units, while full-year sales for this segment rose 19.2 percent to 172,228 units. -Amy Remo