MANILA – Motor vehicle sales in the country dropped sharply in July, as revealed by the joint report of the Chamber of Automotive Manufacturers of the Philippines, Inc. (CAMPI) and Truck Manufacturers Association (TMA).
Combined sales of CAMPI and TMA last month declined 24.1 percent year on year, the largest decrement since February this year.
Sales of cars and trucks in July 2018 reached 29,350 units, from 36,951 units a year ago.
Both passenger cars and commercial vehicles registered double-digit negative growth last month.
Passenger car sales, which accounted for 25 percent of the total sales in July, declined by 45.1 percent to 6,795 units this year from 12,701 in July 2017.
Commercial vehicle sales, comprising 75 percent of the total market share, also decreased by 13.1 percent to 21,063 units last July from 24,250 units in the same month last year.
With the continued decline in sales since February this year, seven-month sales of CAMPI and TMA shrank 14.4 percent to 199,628 units from 233,115 unit sales in the same period of the previous year.
Passenger car sales dropped 21.1 percent to 63,004 units from January to July this year from 79,881 units in the same period in 2017.
Commercial vehicle sales for the same period decreased by 10.8 percent to 136,669 units in 2018 from 153,234 units in 2017.
Sub-segments of commercial vehicles registered decrements in the first seven months of the year.
Sales of Asian utility vehicles recorded the largest decline of 31.2 percent, reaching only 32,274 units in the January to July period of this year from 46,879 units in the same period last year.
Light commercial vehicle sales slipped by 1.4 percent over the period this year to 95,997 units from 97,382 units in 2017.
Sales of light trucks also fell by 21.7 percent to 4,208 units this year from 5,373 units in the previous year.
On the other hand, categories four and five of trucks and buses registered 13.1 percent and 18.3 percent growth, respectively, with combined sales of 4,190 units in January to July 2018.
Growth in overall vehicle sales has come to a screeching halt from its double-digit growth in recent years, since government implemented the Tax Reform for Acceleration and Inclusion (TRAIN) law at the start of 2018, which imposed much higher excise tax rates for automotive vehicles.
Earlier, CAMPI president Rommel Gutierrez said the decline in vehicle sales is expected, given that Filipinos are not prioritizing purchases of big-ticket items like cars in this time of high inflation and rising oil prices. (PNA)
