Carmudi PH says auto sales poised to hit 'monumental' annual growth anew

Abhishek Mohan

MANILA - Carmudi Philippines—the local arm for the leading online vehicle platform around the world—has expressed its utmost confidence that the automotive industry is set to hit a ‘monumental sales feat for 2016.

Abhishek Mohan, Carmudi Philippines Managing Director, said that the industry would easily reach the vehicle sales target following the trend seen since 2010. “I believe this year would be no different from the last half decade and a monumental vehicle sales feat is likely to occur as the industry approaches the year 2020,” he said.

“Sales for the whole of 2010 was 168,000 units but almost doubled to reach over 300,000 by end 2015,” he said, adding that latest trend on vehicle sales is 45,000-unit increase per year.

Mohan also cited news reports quoting Chamber of Automotive Manufacturers of the Philippines Inc. (CAMPI) president Rommel Gutierrez, expecting that sales could reach 500,000 units well before 2020. “Vehicle ownership has always been an aspiration for Filipinos. Rising incomes, coupled with attractive terms that are being put up by distributors and dealers, are fueling this explosive growth in car sales,” he said. “Apart from that, I believe car makers would continue to provide more appealing payment options to try and take advantage of the Comprehensive Automotive Resurgence Strategy (CARS) program.”

Moreover, Mohan mentioned that last year, Philippines placed third on the fastest growing vehicle sales in Southeast Asia next to Singapore and Vietnam. With that, he urged all carmakers to further utilize the power of the internet, like tapping trusted online platforms to boost vehicles sales. According to him, the internet is now a dominant source of information for young Filipinos while researching their impending vehicle purchase and how carmakers engage the internet savvy population will be a strong determinant of their position in the market.

Two months ago, sales for the car manufacturers showed resilience after members of the joint CAMPI-Truck Manufacturers Association, reached overall sales for 2015 of 288,609 units versus 234,747 units sold in 2014, reflecting a 22.9 percent rise.

The top five performers for CAMPI were Toyota Motors Philippines Corporation, taking the lion’s share with 39.2 percent market share; followed by Mitsubishi Motors Philippines Corporation with 20.4-percent. Ford Motor Company Philippines, Inc. placed third with a 10.3 percent share. Not far behind were Japanese brands Isuzu Philippines Corporation with an 8.3-percent market share; and Honda Cars Philippines, Inc. with 7.4-percent, bagging fourth and fifth spots, respectively.

Gutierrez was also quoted as saying: “We estimated a lower to stable sales performance for January since December has just ended.  We will continue to offer products to meet the increasing customer demand.”