Vehicle sales jumped 26 percent in November from a year ago, putting the automotive industry on track to achieve new record sales of 310,000 units this year.
The Chamber of Automotive Manufacturers of the Philippines Inc. and the Trucks Manufacturers Association said in a joint report their members sold 26,979 vehicles in November, up from 21,422 units sold in November 2014.
“With another impressive growth in November 2015, we are most likely to achieve our target of 310,000 units for the year,” said Campi president Rommel Gutierrez.
The November figure, however, was 5.9 percent lower than the monthly sales record of 28,667 units registered in October 2015.
This brought total sales in the first 11 months to 261,930 units, or 22.7 percent higher than 213,427 units sold in the same 11-month period in 2014. The figures exclude those reported by another industry group.
Data showed that sales of passenger cars or sedans increased 28.5 percent in the January-November period to 105,920 units from 82,437 units sold a year earlier.
Sales of commercial vehicles also grew 19.1 percent to 156,010 units from 130,990 units.
Asian utility vehicles posted sales growth of 12.3 percent while light commercial vehicles recorded an increase of 21.3 percent.
Light trucks, category IV and V trucks and buses also grew by 25.3 percent, 24.1 percent and 154.6 percent, respectively.
Campi said in November alone, passenger car sales accelerated 32.5 percent to 10,649 units from 8,040 units in November 2014 while commercial vehicle sales rose 22 percent to 16,330 units from 13,382 units sold in the same month last year.
Toyota Motor Philippines Corp. led the industry with a 43.9-percent market share, followed by Mitsubishi Motors Philippines Corp. with 18.5 percent.
Ford Motor Company came in third with 11-percent share while Isuzu Philippines Corp. was at the fourth spot with 7 percent. Honda Cars Philippines had the fifth biggest share of 5.8 percent.
Data showed that on a month-on-month basis, sales of passenger cars went down by 5.2 percent from the October figure while sales of commercial and light commercial vehicles slowed 6.2 and 15.5 percent, respectively.
Both Campi and TMA expressed optimism that sales would pick up in December.
