• Vehicle sales plunge for 4th month in May

The slowdown of the automotive industry continued in May, bringing down the fivemonth sales in the process, a joint report released yesterday by the Chamber of Automotive Manufacturers of the Philippines Inc. (CAMPI) and the Truck Manufacturers Association (TMA) showed.

Vehicle sales among CAMPI and TMA members plunged for a fourth consecutive month to 30,620 units in May from 35,469 units, down 13.7 percent from 35,469 units in the same month last year.

This brought five-month sales to 142,240 units, 10.3 percent lower than the 158,533 units recorded in the same period last year.

Sales of both passenger cars and commercial vehicles in May were slower compared to the same month last year, while demand for both segments also remained lower for the January to May period.

The passenger car segment posted a 9.9 percent drop, while the commercial vehicle segment registered a steeper 10.5 percent plunge during the first five months.

The industry’s sluggish performance this year has been attributed mostly to the new excise tax regime which imposed higher automobile taxes.

Of the 10 CAMPI and TMA member companies that sold the most number of units in the five-month period, only three registered year-on-year sales growth. These include Nissan Philippines Inc. (22.5 percent), Suzuki Philippines Inc. (9.2 percent) and Foton Motor Philippines Inc. (12.2 percent).

Meanwhile, five-month sales have dropped for Toyota Motors Philippines Corp. (10.8 percent), Mitsubishi Motors Philippines Corp. (4.9 percent), Ford Motor Co. Philippines Inc. (22.6 percent), Honda Cars Philippines Inc. (10.2 percent), Isuzu Philippines Corp. (41.7 percent), Bermaz Auto Philippines Inc. (11.9 percent), and Hino Motors Philippines Corp. (10.6 percent).

Despite posting lower yearon-year sales, Toyota remained as the industry leader with a dominant market share of 43.40 percent as of end May.

Toyota was followed by Mitsubishi with a market share of 18.90 percent, Nissan with 7.36 percent, Ford with 7.31 percent and Honda with seven percent.