Philippine Auto Industry posts strong 2023 H1 result with 206,979 units

PH Auto Industry up 33.64% in H1, despite slight downtrend in June

The Philippine automotive industry remained steadfast with a 33.64% increase for the first half of 2023 compared to the same period last year, despite a slower performance in June 2023. This is based on the consolidated report from the Chamber of Automotive Manufacturers of the Philippines, Inc. (CAMPI), the Truck Manufacturers Association (TMA), and independent data from other distributors.

It is worth noting that new CAMPI members such as BA Motors Philippines, Inc. (GAC and Peugeot), Global Autodistribution Inc. (JMC), Hyundai Motor Philippines Inc., Sojitz G Auto Philippines Corp. (Geely), United Asia Automotive Group, Inc. (Chery) have contributed significantly to the year-to-year variance.

“The auto industry has maintained double-digit positive growth anew -- a reflection of improved consumer spending for big-ticket items amidst the significant market for new motor vehicle sales, the main growth anchor of the industry,” said Atty. Rommel Gutierrez, CAMPI president.

For the first half of 2023, total auto sales logged a total of 206,979 units compared to 2022’s 154,874 unit total for the same period. Passenger cars comprised 24.78% with a 51,281 unit total, while commercial vehicles totaled 155,698 for 75.22% of the market.

Light Commercial Vehicles (LCV) led the CV subsegments, comprising 77.24% of CV sales with 121,030 units sold; 31.03% more than last year's 92,366 total. AUV/MPV segment sold 29,272 units, up 54.8% from 18,910 last year. Truck and bus sales were mostly up. Light truck sales gained 30.66%, selling a total of 3,068 units compared to the previous year's 2,348 unit total. Category 4 Heavy Duty Truck and Bus sales were nearly flat at 1,848 units with a 2.2% increase compared to 1,808 last year. Category 5 Heavy Duty Truck and Bus advanced 9.3% with 480 units sold compared to 439 units in 2022.

Sales performance was mostly positive for all brands for the first half of 2023. Mitsubishi Motors (MMPC) led the banner for the industry with an impressive 78.5% increase to 37,001 units, Ford (FMCPI) surged by 54.5% selling 13,838 units, and Nissan (NPI) saw a 17.9% increase to 13,196 units. The top three decliners were Foton (FMPI) with a 30% decline, Suzuki (SPI) with a 12.5% dip, and Hino (HMPC) with a 7.3% decline.*

*only brands with at least 1,000 units sold were included.

As we enter the second half of the year, the industry is confident that it will exceed the 400,000 unit target with the optimistic result from the first half.

“This sends a strong signal of sustained optimism for the industry as we welcome the second half of the year. Maintaining this level of growth on a monthly basis, the industry has indeed high hopes of achieving or even exceeding its sales target for this year,” Gutierrez added.

After six months, Toyota Motor Philippines Corporation continues its lead in the market with 92,678 units (44.78%). Mitsubishi Motors Philippines Corporation follows in second with a much-improved 37,001 units (17.88%), Ford Motor Company Philippines Incorporated is in third with 13,838 units (6.69%), Nissan Philippines Incorporated in a close fourth with 13,196 units (6.38%), Honda Cars Philippines Inc. advances to fifth overall with 8,668 units (4.19%), Suzuki Philippines Inc., slid down to sixth with 8,615 units (4.16%), Isuzu Philippines Corp. figured in seventh with 8,240 units (3.98%), Hyundai Motor Philippines Inc. moved up to eighth with 4,058 units (1.96%), Sojitz-G Auto Philippines (Geely) down to ninth with 4,020 units (1.94%), and falling down to tenth was The Covenant Car Company Inc. (MG) with only 2,992 units (1.45%)

In the premium segment, Lexus led the sales charts with 897 units followed by BMW with 557 units and Mercedes-Benz with 490 units.

It is almost certain that 2023 sales will breach the 400,000 unit barrier, our conservative estimate is an improvement of 18 to 20 percent from the previous year's 372,083 unit total.

Auto sales for the month of June totaled 36,311 units, representing a 4.9% decline from the previous month of May.

Despite the slight slowdown of sales compared to the previous month, June sales outperformed the same period the previous year by 9,576 units or 27%. Passenger car (PC) sales totaled 8,986 units, covering 24.75% of the market. Commercial vehicles (CV) continued to take a larger share of the market at 27,325 units or 75.5% of the market.

The top five performing manufacturers for the month of June were:

Toyota – 16,381 units (45.11% market share)

Mitsubishi Motors – 6,801 units (18.73% market share)

Ford – 2,730 units (7.52% market share)

Nissan – 2,388 (6.58% market share)

Isuzu – 1,602 units (4.41% market share)