Local vehicle sales grow 27.8% in January 2017

Sales of local vehicles reached 30,425 units in January this year, up 6,617 units or 27.8 percent from 23,808 units in January last year, data released Friday the Chamber of Automotive Manufacturers of the Philippines, Inc. (CAMPI) and Truck Manufacturers Association (TMA) show. (Photo: Zelda Richardson/Flickr)

MANILA—Sales of local vehicles reached 30,425 units in January this year, up 6,617 units or 27.8 percent from 23,808 units in January last year, data released Friday the Chamber of Automotive Manufacturers of the Philippines, Inc. (CAMPI) and Truck Manufacturers Association (TMA) show.

“Although we expected lower sales due to seasonality, reaching 30,000-unit level in January is a good start for the industry,” said CAMPI President Atty. Rommel Gutierrez.

Both passenger car and commercial vehicle segments have strong sales increase in January.

Passenger car sales accelerated by 27.2 percent to 10,984 units this year from 8,632 unit sales in the previous year.

Commercial vehicle sales also increased by 28.1 percent year-on-year from 15,176 units to 19,441 units.

Light commercial vehicles shared largest sales for this segment, selling 12,340 units last month from 9,678 units in January 2016 — an increase of 27.5 percent.

Asian utility vehicle sales grew by 26.1 percent year-on-year to 6,026 units from 4,780 units.

Likewise, sales of trucks and buses had increments at the start of the year.

Light trucks segment jumped it sales by 60.7 percent year-on-year to 630 units; trucks and buses category IV surged its sales by 74.4 percent to 272 units, while category V had an increase of 1.8 percent to 173 units.

The local auto industry is targeting to reach the 450,000 unit sales for this year, which industry experts noted as “conservative target” for 2017.

“We welcome appropriate measures that will not hamper the growth of the auto industry as it positively contribute to the economy,” Gutierrez said.

Meanwhile, market leaders at the start of the year were Toyota, Mitsubishi, Ford, Honda, and Nissan.