MANILA — The Association of Vehicle Importers and Distributors (AVID) has sold 6,493 units in January this year, a drop of 25 percent from last year’s 8,696 units sold in the same period amid conservative consumer outlook.
“AVID opened the year with 6,493 units sold. Despite the paltry performance, AVID expects the industry to pick up as it tries to invigorate the market with new and innovative products in the pipeline for 2019,” according to Ma. Fe Perez-Agudo, president of AVID.
The Passenger Cars (PC) segment declined by 29 percent in the first month of 2019 with 2,254 units sold. Hyundai continues to lead the segment as it registered 1,443 units sold.
On the other hand, the Local Commercial Vehicles (LCV) segment dropped by 23 percent from 5,407 units sold in January 2018 to 4,154 units sold in January 2019. With 1,749 units sold, Ford remained as the market leader in this segment.
In the Commercial Vehicle (CV) segment, AVID sold 85 units in 2019 versus previous year’s 105 units sold. Hyundai emerges in the forefront of the segment with a total of 64 units sold. JAC Automobile Int’l Philippines, Inc. follows with 21 units sold.
Sales and economic outlook
In 2018, the Philippine economy grew by 6.2 percent, falling short the government’s full year target of 6.5-6.9 percent. This is attributed to macroeconomic headwinds such as higher inflation and lower agricultural output. Despite this, the economy remains to be stable and is expected to rebound behind the expected boost in election spending and private consumption.
Inflation eased to 4.4 percent in January which allowed the Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas to keep the interest rates on hold. With the favorable macroeconomic outlook for 2019, Perez-Agudo said AVID expects the industry to rally and achieve modest growth.
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