The automotive industry in ASEAN is on the rise with motor vehicle production surging 29.7 percent and sales at a robust 17.2 percent growth as of September this year with the Philippines among the biggest gainers in the region.
Data from the ASEAN Automotive Federation (AAF) showed that total motor vehicle production in the region jumped 2,492,431 units in the January-September period this year from 1,921,390 units in the same first nine months last year.
In terms of production, Indonesia led with 794,454 units produced or 64.4 percent higher than the 483,213 units in the same period in 2020.
Philippine motor vehicle production also picked up by 35.8 percent although on a smaller volume of 63,341 units from 46,628 units last year.
Thailand improved by 25.9 percent, but it remained the region’s automotive hub with total production of 1,211,946 units from 962,387 units in the first nine months of 2020. Vietnam grew 13.7 percent to 117,508 units from 103,374 units in 2020.
Malaysia registered a negative growth of 3.7 percent to 303,996 units while Myanmar declined by 88 percent to 1,186 units.
In terms of sales, the ASEAN region also reported total sales of 1,913,577 units from 1,632,911 units from last year.
Indonesia, the biggest market in the region led the growth with 68.7 percent increase to 627,537 units, more than double its sales last year of 372,046 units.
This was followed by the Philippines, which grew a significant 29.5 percent growth year to date to 191,605 units from 148,012 units last year.
Thailand, the Detroit of ASEAN, declined slightly at negative 0.5 percent with total sales of 531,931 units from 534,765 units last year. Vietnam grew a modest 5.5 percent to 188,937 units from 179,156 units and Singapore with 19.5 percent growth to 47,167 units from 39,480 in the same nine month period last year.
Malaysia’s car sales also dropped 7.3 percent to 318,874 units from 344,019 units while the political crisis in Myanmar plunged its auto sales by 51.2 percent to 7,526 units versus 15,433 units last year.