The Philippines is the lone ASEAN car producing country whose output declined in the first seven months of the year despite higher sales for the same period, data from the ASEAN Automotive Federation (AAF) showed.
Based on the AAF data, motor vehicle production in the country declined by 3.8 percent to 48,166 units in the January-July period this year from 50,046 units in the same period last year. This makes the Philippines fifth in terms of production volume among ASEAN countries. In contrast, the country’s sales in the same period jumped by 18.4 percent to 182,687 units from 154,265 units last year.
Overall, ASEAN countries’ motor vehicle manufacturing industry grew by an encouraging 22.4 percent to 2,398,962 units in the first seven months of the year from 967,764 units in the same period last year. Production in the month of July alone contributed the biggest increase of 54.7 percent with sales of 338,863 units from 219,027 units in July 2021.
Among the ASEAN countries, the region’s production hub Thailand manufactured 1,054,045 units or 8.9 percent in the January-July period this year from 967,764 units same period last year.
Indonesia, ASEAN’s biggest market, ramped up its production by 32.7 percent to 781,264 units from 588,916 units. But Malaysia registered the biggest increase in production among the top producers in the region by 51.6 percent to 369,994 units from 244,063 in the same first seven months in 2021.
Vietnam also registered a significant 32.5 percent growth to 142,445 units from 107,505 units. Vietnam is now the fourth fastest growing motor market in the region.
Due to lower base effect, Myanmar registered a 188.9 percent growth to 3,048 units from 1,055 units last in the January-July period this year.
In terms of sales, the market for motor vehicles in ASEAN exceeded growth in production. The region’s car market went up 26.7 percent, absorbing 1,910,118 units as against 1,507,800 units in the same January-July period last year. The month of July also contributed the biggest increase for the year at 54.7 percent to 261,265 units sold from 168,936 units in July 2021.
Malaysia posted the biggest increase of 48.3 percent to 380,595 units from 256,677 units. Vietnam became the second biggest growth in motor vehicle sales at 39.4 percent with total sales of 232,094 units from 166,516 units in the same first seven months in 2021.
Thailand and Indonesia both grew by 22 percent with Indonesia sales reaching 561,287 units from 460,105 units. Thailand improved by 22.6 percent with total sales of 521,655 units from 425,633 units in the same period last year.