New vehicle sales growth slows to 7.6% in November

NEW VEHICLE SALES jumped by an annual 7.6% in November, the slowest growth in 21 months as high interest rates weighed on consumer demand.

A joint report by the Chamber of Automotive Manufacturers of the Philippines, Inc. (CAMPI) and the Truck Manufacturers Association (TMA) showed new vehicle sales rose to 37,683 in November from 35,037 in the same month a year ago.

This was the weakest sales growth in 21 months or since the 7.3% contraction recorded in February 2022.

Month on month, vehicle sales slipped by 1.2% from 38,128 units sold in October.

“Total sales slightly declined on a month-on-month basis, but the industry still displayed a relatively strong performance in November,” CAMPI President Rommel R. Gutierrez said in a statement on Tuesday.

“Vehicle sales are being pushed by continued aggressive marketing activities and supply improvement across all brands,” he added.

However, consumer spending has slowed in recent months, reflecting the impact of soaring interest rates.

The Philippine central bank has raised borrowing costs by a cumulative 450 basis points between May 2022 and October 2023, bringing the key rate to a 16-year high of 6.5%.

CAMPI-TMA data showed sales growth of commercial vehicles and passenger cars slowed to single digits in November.

Sales of commercial vehicles, which made up nearly three-fourths of the monthly sales, went up by 7.7% to 28,114 units in November.

Month on month, commercial vehicle sales inched up by 0.3%.

Broken down, light commercial vehicle sales went up by 6% to 21,427 units, while sales of Asian utility vehicles increased by 13.6% to 5,609 units in November.

Sales of light trucks and heavy trucks increased by 20.9% and 14.5% to 649 and 95 units, respectively.

On the other hand, medium truck sales dipped by 0.9% to 334 units in November.

Meanwhile, passenger car sales increased by 7.1% to 9,569 units in November from 8,931 units a year ago.

However, sales of passenger cars dropped by 5.14% month on month.

Despite the slower growth in November, CAMPI-TMA members sold 390,654 units in the eleven-month period, up by 23.9% from 315,337 units a year ago.

For the January-to-November period, commercial vehicle sales jumped by 22.2% to 290,989 units, while passenger car sales rose by 29% to 99,665 units.

Mr. Gutierrez said the eleven-month tally puts the industry on track for full recovery to pre-pandemic levels.

“We already achieved 92% of our 2023 forecast in November; we may even exceed our sales forecast of 423,000 units if sales performance in the last three months is sustained,” said Mr. Gutierrez.

CAMPI earlier revised its 2023 sales target to 423,000 units from 395,000 units previously. If realized, this would be 20% higher than the 352,596 vehicles sold in 2022.

Toyota Motor Philippines Corp. remained the market leader with a 46.2% share as eleven-month sales rose by 15% to 180,480 units.

Mitsubishi Motors Philippines Corp. came in second with a 53.8% increase in sales to 71,833 units from January to November.

In third spot is Ford Motor Co. Phils., Inc. as sales jumped by 33.3% to 28,586 units.

Rounding out the top five were Nissan Philippines, Inc., which saw a 27.7% increase in sales to 24,743 units, and Suzuki Phils., Inc. whose sales fell by 8% to 16,676 units. — Justine Irish D. Tabile