Ride-sharing, hailing apps help drive sales for Nissan, says exec
Car sales for this year are expected to remain robust as more Filipinos patronize car booking applications like Uber and Grab.
Nissan Philippines, for instance, logged a 98.9 percent growth in Almera sales last year or 4,500 units, said Ramesh Narasimhan, general manager of Nissan Philippines.
Narasimhan visited Cebu last Friday to open Nissan’s flagship showroom, Nissan Cebu Central of Autosynergy Inc. The 5,000-square-meter showroom is located on A. Soriano Ave. in the North Reclamation Area.
Uber and Grab, he said, have “extremely helped” the company grow its sales, with excellent market feedback from car owners and passengers.
Positive sales performance was also observed in Cebu, according to Autosynergy Inc. president Brian Chua, who cited the brand’s size, space and competitive pricing. Both officials expect to sustain sales growth and hope to grow faster than the industry.
Construction boom
Narasimhan said growth projections remain healthy given the country’s sustained economic growth.
Car ownership in the country remains in its infancy stage, which also gives Nissan more room for growth, the Nissan Philippines official noted.
Brighter prospects are also seen in Cebu, according to Chua,
It might slow down the sales, but the sales growth is still going to be very healthy. When this (tax reform) package is passed, there will be a reduction in income taxes, so somebody earning half a million pesos (annually) will get to increase his purchasing power by about P27,000. At that time, he can decide: is he going to buy a car, will he put his kid in a better school? FINANCE SECRETARY CARLOS DOMINGUEZ III
with the expansion of construction and real estate.
“Where there are business activities, this also mean sales growth for us,” said Chua.
Sales of Nissan in Region 7 grew 124 percent in the first quarter this year versus the same period in 2016.
However, amid the robust sales performance, officials pointed out they need to work harder to achieve targets this year, following moves in Congress to raise excise taxes, which would pull up automobile prices.
The car excise tax is projected to take place in 2018 and is part of the revenue-generating measures as government pursues a tax reform program that will mean lower personal income taxes.
Just a slowdown
“If and when that happens, there would be a short-term period of challenges, especially in sales. But we also have a market that is strong enough to recover,” said Chua.
“There would be a slowdown. But would this stop consumers from buying cars? I don’t think so,” added Narasimhan.
While there may be an initial slowdown in car sales, Finance Secretary Carlos Dominguez said the industry would be able to quickly recover and continue its robust pace of growth as it did in the past two years, when car sales went up by 25 percent.
Chua said Nissan has put in place various initiatives aimed at improving customer service and launching various options to own cars as ways to attract more buyers.
One is Nissan’s Intelligent Choice, a certified pre-owned car edition that went through a rigorous 225-point car checkup and comes with a warranty. This initiative is the first in the country to be offered by Nissan Central Cebu. Chua said its launching came in at the right time, adding that excise taxes on vehicles might drive up sales of second-hand cars.
Based on data from the Chamber of Automotive Manufacturers of the Philippines Inc. (Campi) and the Truck Manufacturers Association (TMA), vehicle sales surged 23 percent in the first quarter of this year, with 94,026 units sold from 76,473 units a year ago.
Vehicle sales in March alone soared 32.9 percent from 27,515 a year ago to 36,561. In 2016, car sales grew 24.6 percent to 359,572 units up from the 288,609 units sold in 2015. The sales total beat the 2016 industry target of 329,300 units by 12.36 percent.