The Philippine new vehicle market declined by almost 12% to 23,723 units in January 2020 from 26,888 units in the same month of last year, according to member wholesale data released jointly by the Chamber of Automotive Manufacturers of the Philippines Inc (CAMPI) and the Truck Manufacturers Association (TMA).
The data did not include non affiliated brands, such as Hyundai, Kia, and Subaru, which together accounted for around 11% of the total market last year.
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The industry blamed January's market decline on disruption caused by the eruption of the Taal volcano which forced some vehicle manufacturers to temporarily suspend production and close some dealers in South Luzon and parts of Metro Manila.
Passenger car sales fell by almost 23% to 6,543 units last month, from 8,487 units a year earlier, while commercial vehicle sales were down by 6.6% at 17,180 units from 18,401 units.
Toyota claimed a market share of 37.5% in January, followed by Mitsubishi Motors with 21.1%, Nissan 11.9%, Honda 7.5% and Ford 6.3%.
Last year the country's vehicle market began a slow recovery from a sharp decline in 2018 after the government introduced broad based changes to the country's taxation system which led to higher taxes and vehicle prices. Sales increased by 3.5% to 369,941 units in 2019 from 357,410 units in the previous year and CAMPI expects the recovery to continue in 2020.
