Toyota targets 400 monthly luxury van sale

The CV segment remained the automotive industry’s growth driver in July, accounting for 70.46 percent of the total car sales in the month

Banking on the growing commercial vehicle (CV) segment, industry leader Toyota Motor Philippines Corp. (TMP) is expecting to sell 400 units of the newly-launched 10-seater Hiace Super Grandia every month.

The Japanese-made 6th generation of the Hiace is out in the market starting Monday, 19 August, at a price range of P2.4 million to P2.8 million. The high-end model targets affluent families with an average monthly household income of P220,000 to P240,000, with luxury hotels and casinos as secondary market.

TMP said the addition of the luxury shuttle in its lineup will elevate Hiace’s current market share of 54.6 percent in the utility vehicle segment.

“The commercial vehicle segment is consistently growing, comprising almost 70 percent of the total market in the last few years,” TMP vice president for marketing services said during the Hiace Super Grandia’s launch in Makati on Monday.

“While it’s dominated by SUV and MTV, the UV segment maintains a 12 percent composition. This is largely attributed to increasing needs for public transportation and booming tourism industry nationwide,” she added.

According to a joint report by the Chamber of Automotive Manufacturers of the Philippines Inc. and the Truck Manufacturers Association, the CV segment remained the automotive industry’s growth driver in July, accounting for 70.46 percent of the total car sales in the month.

This is equivalent to an improvement of 6.4 percent, or to 22,413 units sold from 21,063 units in the same period last year. For the first seven months, TMP’s hold of the market has grown to 42.52 percent.

Meanwhile, TMP president Satoru Suzuki said the company is maintaining its single-digit sales expectations for full year 2019, eight months in.

TMP aims to sell 165,000 to 168,000 units this year after clocking in 153,000 units in 2018 when it was hit by an industry-wide slump brought by new excise tax rates on cars, paired with soaring inflation in the second half of the year.

Recovering from the previous months’ flattish sales, TMP registered a 25.3 percent increase in sales in July alone, to 14,120 units from 11,265 units in the same month last year. Suzuki noted this might merely be the market correcting itself.

“We have to better carefully watch the market growth this month and next month. We’re showing some growth already, but the growth in July, double digit, is too much abnormal. (It’s) temporary. Sure it (full year sales) will grow compared to last year, (but) I don’t know how much,” Suzuki told reporters.

TMP is leveraging on its models Innova, Fortuner and other Hiace models to reach its target in 2019. The year also marks the first full year of the locally-made new Vios. TMP is targeting to sell 34,000 units of the model and has sold 18,433 units in the first seven months of the year.