Elantra drives Hyundai's PH sales in September

MANILA, Philippines – Sales of Hyundai vehicles in the country jumped 6% in September, according to its Philippine distributor.

Hyundai Asia Resources, Inc. (HARI) in a statement said it sold 1,507 units in September, up 6% from 1,421 it sold a year ago.

Hyundai's sales were driven by 2012 Philippine Car of the Year Elantra, which saw an 88% increase in September.

The Eon maintained its recent growth streak with an increase of 61% while Accent saw a 35% increase.

Hyundai’s passenger car lineup grew 44% against the same period last year, offsetting the 32% drop in sales of its Light Commercial Vehicle (LCV) segment.

With the uptick, HARI believes it is on track to meet its targets before the year ends, saying it is only 5% off its mark a year ago through the first nine months of 2013.

HARI remains optimistic that the holiday season will bring higher sales.

"With the season of giving fast approaching, the Hyundai family is thrilled to continue providing Filipinos exciting and compelling offerings to share with the family this blessed season,” said Ma. Fe Perez-Agudo, HARI president and CEO.

source: www.abs-cbnnews.com

Car sales in June up 25.3% year-on-year

MANILA - The Chamber of Automotive Manufacturers of the Philippines Inc. said vehicle sales in June went up by a quarter year-on-year amid the improvement in member-firms supply chain.

In a statement, the group said its members sold a total of 13,697 units last month from 10,935 units the same month in 2011. This brought first-half sales to 72,874 units from last year's 69,782.

"The local automotive industry continues to exceed monthly forecasts and perform better than expected because of these favourable situations," Campi said, referring to the return to normal of member-firms' supply chain and an improving economy.

Toyota Motor Philippines kept its lead, capturing 40 percent of the market, followed by Mitsubishi with 23 percent and Honda with 8 percent.

"We are very pleased to end the first semester of the year on a high note. This is indeed a positive sign that the local automotive landscape as a whole is on track to recover lost sales opportunities from earlier in the year. In addition to this, we would like to showcase our strong performance and kick start the 2nd half of the year by holding the 4th Philippine International Motor Show," said Rommel Gutierrez, president of Campi.

The increase in the industry's sales came on the back of Ford Motors' decision to shut down its manufacturing plant in Sta. Rosa, Laguna by the end of the year. The US carmaker sells less than 1,000 units in the Philippine market.

"Use all levers"

Trade Secretary Gregory Domingo on Tuesday said he cannot say whether the US carmaker's export strategy was wrong, adding that the decision was made from a global standpoint.

"But their pullout is a signal that the Philippines is still lacking," Domingo said.

He said a roadmap that the government and the industry are drawing up would include measures on how to increase the domestic car market so there would be economies of scale for manufacturers. The roadmap also should identify gaps in the supply chain and "figure out how to fill in those gaps," he said.

But sales cannot surge unless per capital income in the Philippines hits $2,000, Domingo said.

The government however is "willing to use all levers" to achieve the desired market size, such as giving incentives "allowable by law," he said, without providing details on the perks.

source: interaksyon.com

September Vehicles Sales Gain 8.6%

MANILA, Philippines — Motor vehicle sales continued to improve with sales in September posting 8.6 percent increase over the previous month and the decline on a year to date basis has narrowed down to 3.5 percent over the same period last year, a report by the Chamber of Automotive Manufacturers of the Philippines Inc. (CAMPI) said.

In the report, CAMPI said that sales in September reached 12,555 units or 8.6 percent up over 11,558 units in August.

For the January-September period, total auto sales hit 105,663 units or 3.5 percent lower than the 109,517 units in the same nine-month period last year.

The decline on a year-to-date basis has been narrowed down to 3.5 percent as against from 4.1 percent decrease in the eight month period this year.

CAMPI attributed the sluggishness in the year to date due to the reduction in the supply of some models.

CAMPI’s original sales forecast this year was placed at 175,000 or 4-5 percent higher than 2010 sales figure.

In May this year, CAMPI mulled the reduction in growth target to flat or between 1 to 2 percent at best following the reduced production of the country’s major car manufacturers due to the disruption in the supply of parts and components as a result of the Japan disasters.

Of the overall sales, the passenger car sales grew by 4.2% with sales of 4,195 units while commercial vehicles contributed an 11% growth with 8,360 units. Overall sales in this segment for the January-September period reached 35,485 units or 2.4 percent down versus 36,339 units in the same period last year.

In the commercial vehicle segment, the highest growth was registered by light commercial vehicles at 26.7%. A combination of factors boosted the monthly sales performance in the various segments such as improvement in supply of some models, fleet deliveries and introduction of new models.

The nine-month sales for the commercial segment posted a 4.1 percent decline to 70,178 units versus 73,178 units in the same period last year.

Of the commercial vehicle categories, the Asian utility vehicles registered a 9.8 percent decline in September over August and 4.7 percent decline on a year to date basis.

The huge decline in AUV sales was attributed to the limited supply of models in this category.

Sales of light commercial vehicles posted a significant 26.7 percent in September over August due to the introduction of new models and consistent high demand for sports utility vehicles.

On a year to date, however, LCV sales posted a negative 4.2 percent.

For light trucks, month on month sales increased by 10.1 percent due to completion of fleet transactions. Year-to-date sales for LCV also increased by 3.5 percent.

Sales of trucks and buses improved by 11.9 percent in September versus August while sales on a year to date basis was up 9 percent due to deliveries and stock availability.

In terms of ranking, sales of industry leader Toyota Motor Philippines Corp. declined by 4.5 percent to 39,421 units from 41,281 units in the same period of 2010.

Source: mb.com.ph