New vehicle sales in the Philippines continued to drop in May, by 13.7% to 30,620 units from peak year-earlier sales of 35,469 units, according to member data released jointly by the Chamber of Automotive Manufacturers of the Philippines (CAMPI) and the Truck Manufacturers Association (TMA).
The data did not include some significant brands in this market, including Hyundai, Chevrolet and Subaru.
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Passenger vehicle sales fell by 9.9% to an estimated 9,400 units last month, while commercial vehicles were down by 10.5% at around 21,220 units.
This was the fourth consecutive month of decline for the Philippine market after several years of exceptionally strong growth. The recent weakness has been blamed on a new tax structure introduced at the beginning of the year while it is unclear to what extent the current overhaul of the country's public road transport network has affected the market.
Despite GDP growth in the country strengthening to 6.8% in the first quarter, consumer and business confidence weakened in recent months on rising inflation and the falling peso, prompting the central bank to hike interest rates for the first time in four years in May.
Toyota sold an estimated 14,430 vehicles last month, followed by Mitsubishi with 4,810 units, Nissan 2,610, Ford 2,110 and Honda 1,842.
Total vehicle sales in the first five months of 2018 declined by 10.3% to 142,240 units compared with record year-earlier sales of 158,533 units.
