Commercial vehicles drive car sales growth in March

The automotive industry registered an 87.7-percent year-onyear growth in sales in March, driven mostly by the commercial vehicle (CV) segment.

Car sales in March reached 20,702 units, which are markedly higher compared to the 1,029 units sold in the same month last year, according to the joint report by the Chamber of Automotive Manufacturers of the Philippines, Inc. (Campi) and Truck Manufacturers Association (TMA).

Bulk of the sales is accounted for by the CV segment at 14,041 units,

which is 78.2 percent higher than the 7,879 units in March last year.

Sales of passenger cars, meanwhile, more than doubled to 6,661 units.

Still, auto sales in March saw a 21.1-percent decline from 26,230 units in February.

Campi President Rommel Gutierrez said the lower sales were due to the imposition of provisional safeguard duty on imported cars and the enhanced community quarantine (ECQ ) which restricted operations.

“The auto industry felt the slowdown in sales due to the reluctance of buyers with the additional deposit for some imported vehicles because of the provisional safeguard duty. The lockdown also forced dealers to close operations that badly hit the already struggling auto industry,” Gutierrez said, adding that the 87.7-percent growth was only a “rebound mainly due to the lockdown imposed in the same period last year.”

In January, the Department of Trade and Industry imposed provisional safeguard duties in the form of a cash bond amounting to P70,000 per unit for imported passenger cars and P110,000 per unit for imported light commercial vehicles.

ECQ, meanwhile, was recently imposed on the National Capital Region and nearby provinces, including Bulacan, Cavite, Laguna and Rizal, amid the surge in Covid-19 cases. The government over the weekend eased the lockdown measure in said areas to modified ECQ until April 30.

In the first quarter, total industry sales improved by 8.9 percent to 70,312 units from 64,542 units sold in the same period last year.

Toyota Motors Philippines Corp. led the industry with a 47.07-percent market share. The Japanese automaker saw its year-to-date sales climb by 28.8 percent to 33,095 units from last year’s 25,696 units.

This was followed by Mitsubishi Motors Philippines Corp. and Nissan Philippines Inc. with sales of 11,788 units and 5,198 units, respectively, in the first quarter.