Vehicle sales zoom 16% in 9 months

Vehicle sales accelerated double digits in the first three quarters this year despite a slowdown in September.

A joint report released by the Chamber of Automotive Manufacturers of the Philippines Inc. (CAMPI) and the Truck Manufacturers Association showed vehicle sales zoomed 15.9 percent to 302,869 units in the nine months ending September from 261,370 units in the same period last year.

Vehicle demand, however, slowed in September, with only 34,445 units sold as compared to sales of 35,309 units in the month of August.

“September sales result decreased compared to August sales result because of decrease in sales of major distributors,” CAMPI president Rommel Gutierrez said.

“Despite the decline in Sep- tember sales, the outlook for succeeding months remains strong, driven by the good sales performance of key models. We maintain our optimism in achieving the year-end target with competitive promotional support and marketing activities to further push vehicle sales,” Gutierrez added.

For the nine-month period, sale of commercial vehicles reached 201,214 units, while passenger cars sold totaled to 101,655 units.

Toyota Motors Philippines Corp. remained the market leader with a share of 43.82 percent, followed by Mitsubishi Motors Philippines Corp. with 17.65 percent.

Completing the top five were Ford Motor Co. Philippines with a market share of 8.58 percent, Honda Cars Philippines with 6.87 percent and Isuzu Philippines Corp. with 6.80 percent.