‘Excise tax scare,’ new models seen to drive record Honda sales

Honda Cars Philippines Inc. (HCPI) is looking to capitalize on the so-called “excise tax scare” as it ramps up its growth projections this year for another record sales performance.

Louie Soriano, administration division head of HCPI, said the company is targeting sales of 32,000 units this year, a 38 percent increase from the 23,199 units posted last year.

HCPI’s 2016 sales, which was a 20 percent growth from the previous year, was the company’s highest annual sales so far.

“We are going to be very aggressive this year. We have 13 models and each model will drive that growth,” Soriano said in an interview Monday night during the launch of Honda’s all-new City.

Soriano said the firm is also targeting to maintain its current market share position at fourth based on the Chamber of Automotive Manufacturers of the Philippines Inc. sales report from January to April.

Aside from new models to be launched throughout the year, the HCPI official said another factor that would likely boost the firm’s sales growth this year is the excise tax scare, which refers to buyers taking advantage of the lower prices of vehicles this year in anticipation of an increase in prices next year due to the implementation of higher vehicle tax.

HCPI earlier shared the automotive industry’s sentiment regarding the government’s proposed excise tax hike, saying the move would likely dampen the industry’s current robust demand.

In anticipation of these higher rates, however, HCPI is sticking to business as usual, according to Soriano.

He said the company is currently studying introducing more new models to the country, as well as assembling additional models locally.

At present, HCPI assembles Honda City vehicles in its plant in Sta. Rosa, Laguna which has an annual capacity of 15,000 units.

“City is our only locally assembled model. We are open to that possibility of additional model but as of now, we are still studying those options and we want to study the market first,” Soriano said.

“We are also open to the possibility of introducing new models this year. We are actually studying that right now and whatever is the demand of the market then we will provide this model,” he added.