Car sales breach 40K-mark in Nov

-- Monthly sales of automotive vehicles among members of Chamber of Automotive Manufacturers of the Philippines, Inc. (Campi) and Truck Manufacturers Association (TMA) breached the 40,000-mark in November this year.

Campi and TMA reported Wednesday that combined sales of the two industry groups reached 40,799 units last month, increasing by 23.8 percent compared to 32,966 vehicles sold in November 2016.

It was noted that November 2017 performance posted the highest monthly sales for Campi and TMA.

Although monthly sales of passenger cars slowed down by 2.0 percent from 12,143 units last year to 11,901 units this year, sales of commercial vehicles supported the growth of the industry in November.

Sales of commercial vehicles in the previous month were robust at 38.8 percent reaching 28,898 units from 20,823 units in November last year.

Sales of light commercial vehicles grew to 20,329 units in November, up by 57.5 percent from 12,905 units in the same period last year.

This was followed by Asian utility vehicle with 6,832 units sold last month, up by 5.9 percent from November 2016's sales of 6,449 units; light trucks, with sales of 884 units; and trucks and buses categories four and five with sales of 515 and 338 units, respectively.

"November sales result is higher than the month of October because of the increased sales of major assemblers and distributors," said Campi President Rommel Gutierrez.

Meanwhile, total vehicle sales from January to November this year grew by 16.8 percent to 380,179 units from 325,468 units in the same period a year ago.