Philippine new vehicle sales surged 45% to 38,177 units in May 2023 from 26,370 a year earlier, 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 market continued to be driven by strong consumer demand despite the central bank having hiked its benchmark interest rate from 2% to 6.25% in the last year. The economy expanded by a better than expected 6.4% in the first quarter of 2023, driven mainly by strong domestic consumption and fixed investment growth.
In the first five months of the year, vehicle sales increased 32% to 166,104 units from 126,273 a year ago with passenger vehicle sales rising by 33% to 41,862 units while commercial vehicle sales increased 31% to 124,242.
Toyota has underperformed so far this year with sales rising by just 18% to 77,194 units while Mitsubishi sales jumped 86% to 30,200 units on strong demand for its Xpander and Mirage models. Ford sales surged 60% to 11,108 units, Nissan 10,808 (+13%) and Honda 7,340 (+21%).
While CAMPI data generally does not include sales by non-affiliated companies which rely mostly on imports, more brands have joined the group in the last year including Hyundai, Chery, Geely and Foton.
