Car sales jumped 90.5 percent in August, bringing year to date sales to 212,872 units on track for the industry’s full recovery back to the pre-pandemic sales level.
A joint report by the Chamber of Automotive Manufacturers of the Philippines, Inc. (CAMPI) and Truck Manufacturers Association (TMA) showed all categories posting huge increases pushing sales in August to reach 30,185 units or 90.5 percent higher than the 15,847 units sold in the same period last year.
Year-to-date, CAMPI-TMA sold 212,872 units, equivalent to 25.1 percent growth compared with the same period last year.
CAMPI President Atty. Rommel Gutierrez said the performance showed the recovery of the industry is indeed on track as we reached monthly sales of above 30,000 units – a pre-pandemic monthly performance level last recorded in 2019.
“This year-on-year improvement of 90.5 percent in August brings us closer to achieving the industry sales target this year,” said Gutierrez.
With the return of the Philippine International Motor Show this month, Gutierrez expects more interest from buyers.
“There are plenty of reasons to be optimistic of having a stronger year after a period of lower sales achievement because of the pandemic,” Gutierrez added.
For the month of August, the CAMPI-TMA sales performance was hugely fueled by the commercial vehicle segment, which grew 114.1 percent with sales volume of 23,452 units or 77.69 percent higher than same month in 2021.
The passenger car segment also grew although at slower pace of 37.6 percent with sales of 6,733 units from 4,894 units in August last year.
Among the commercial vehicle categories, sales of Asian utility vehicles registered a significant 210.3 percent increase to 4,589 units from only 1,497 units in August 2021.
But in terms of volume, the biggest contribution went to the light commercial vehicle category with sales of 17,973 units or a significant 106 percent increase versus 8,723 units in the same period last year.
Other categories light trucks (pickups), trucks and buses category IV and category V also contributed with equally significant increases of 29.9 percent, 1.2 percent, and 51.8 percent, respectively.
Industry leader Toyota Motor Philippines Corp. posted an 87.1 percent growth in sales in August.
Sales by Mitsubishi Motors Philippines Corp. rose 215.8 percent while Nissan Philippines Inc. registered a 45.2 percent increase.