PH is ASEAN’s second fastest car market

Motor vehicle sales in ASEAN grew by modest 5.6 percent in the first three quarters this year to 2,436,271 units from 2,308,028 units with the Philippines maintaining its ranking as second fastest market, after Myanmar, among the 8 countries tallied by the ASEAN Automotive Federation (AAF).

AAF data showed that Myanmar posted brisk 80 percent growth, albeit lower base of only 5,369 units as of end third quarter this year from 2,982 units last year.

Philippines came in second with 15.9 percent growth but at higher base of 302,869 units from 261,370 units last year. Thailand, known as the Detroit of Asia, improved by 11.5 percent with total sales of 620,715 units or twice that of the Philippines market. Thailand sold 556,525 units in 2016.

ASEAN’s biggest market Indonesia slightly improved its sales with 803,757 units from 872,841 units last year for 2.7 percent growth. Malaysia, the third biggest auto market in the region, improved only by 1.8 percent to 425,711 units sold as of end September from 418,277 units last year.

Other ASEAN countries registered declines or flat growth. City state Singapore sold only 84,229 units from 83,664 units last year. Vietnam declined by 4.2 percent to 184,831 units from 192,922 units last year while Brunei posted negative growth of 7 percent to 8,790 units from 9,447 units.

Meanwhile, motorcycle sales in five ASEAN countries posted negative growth of 2.6 percent to 6,866,480 units from 7,053,33I units. The Philippines also posted the highest growth of 14.4 percent to 956,632 units followed by Malaysia with 10.1 percent to 327,534 units and Singapore with 8.7 percent with 6,981 units from 6,421 units.

Indonesia, the biggest motorcycle market in ASEAN, declined by 4.9 percent but has a huge motorcycle market of 4,340,252 units from 4,563,011 units in 2016. Thailand, second biggest in the region, also declined by 8.5 percent to 1,235,081 from 1,350,089 units. (BCM)