Philippine new vehicle sales continued to decline in February 2022, by over 7% to 24,304 units from 26,230 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).
Vehicle demand has remained sluggish so far this year despite a strong rebound in economic activity in the fourth quarter of last year, after social and business restrictions were reimposed in January to slow the spread of the Omicron variant.
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Sales in the first two months of the year were down by over 9% at 45,069 units from 49,610 units a year earlier, with passenger vehicle sales falling by 23% at 11,698 units while commercial vehicle sales declined by just 3% to 33,371 units.
Toyota sold 22,120 vehicles year to date, followed by Mitsubishi with 6,458 units, Nissan 3,538 units and Suzuki with 2,898 units.
CAMPI president Rommel Gutierrez pointed to the 17% month on month growth in February, from 20,765 sales in January, as a sign that consumer confidence is beginning to improve. The association expects its members to increase their combined sales by a further 17% to 336,000 units in 2022, after a 20% rise to 268,488 units in 2021, with the easing of covid restrictions at the beginning of March expected to help the vehicle market recover from here.
The data did not include sales by members of the Association of Vehicle Importers and Distributors, which reported a 14% sales increase to 58,916 units in 2021.
