Car distributors’ sales dip 11% in July, stay flat in first 7 months

DELIVERIES made by member-companies of the Association of Vehicle Importers and Distributors, Inc. (AVID) decreased 11% in July, the group said in a statement.

Its sales in July reached 6,987, which computes to 864 vehicles less than AVID’s tally for the same month last year. The group did not release actual figures for July 2018; only its percentage decrease in sales.

AVID sales from January to July totaled to 50,164 vehicles, representing a 0.67% dip from the 50,505-vehicle tally its members posted during the same seven-month stretch in 2018.

The group attributed the decline to higher interest rates and stiff competition. However, it expects sales to pick up in the “latter part of the year” as it forecasts “more favorable market conditions” in the months ahead.

“The downtrend in inflation and continuous surge of OFW remittances are two factors that will improve consumer confidence, especially high-ticket acquisitions such as vehicles, in the coming months,” AVID president Ma. Fe Perez-Agudo said in the statement.

Agudo is also president of Hyundai Asia Resources, Inc. (HARI), the biggest seller among AVID members.

HARI earlier reported it sold 19,790 vehicles from January to July compared to 19,478 units during the same period in 2018, posting a 1.6% growth.

The AVID and HARI chief noted the completion of infrastructure projects in Metro Manila “will hopefully ease traffic and remove one of the hurdles to vehicle ownership” in the country.

Deliveries of AVID companies’ passenger cars dipped 4.76% during the January-July period, or from 18,592 units in 2018 to 17,706 units this year.

AVID’s light commercial vehicle segment remained steady at a 0.65% growth, or from 31,671 units last year to 31,878 units sold in the first seven months of the year.

The group’s sales of commercial vehicles spiked 140%, with deliveries of 580 units this year compared to 242 units in 2018’s first seven months.