Vehicle sales rose slightly in February following a 15-percent decline in January, data from the Chamber of Automotive Manufacturers of the Philippines Inc. and the Truck Manufacturers Association show.
The two industry groups said their members sold 26,327 vehicles in February, up 0.6 percent from 26,176 units delivered a year ago.
Passenger car sales grew 3.4 percent in February to 8,471 units from 8,192 units a year ago, while light commercial vehicle sales went down 0.7 percent to 17,856 units from 17,984 units.
Data showed that on a month-on-month basis, car sales fell 2.1 percent in February from 26,888 units delivered in January 2019.
Sales in the first two months of 2019 went down 8 percent to 53,215 units from 57,821 units in the same period last year.
Passenger car sales in the two-month period declined 5.7 percent to 16,958 units from 17,982 units a year ago while commercial vehicle sales went down 9 percent to 35,257 units from 39,839 units.
Among commercial vehicles, Asian utility vehicles posted the sharpest drop of 58.9 percent to 4,637 units from 11,274 units, followed by trucks and buses (category V) which went down 43.3 percent to 191 from 337 units.
Other commercial vehicles showed improved sales during the period.
Top performers in February were Toyota Motor Philippines with 38.75-market share, followed by Mitsubishi Motor Philippines Corp. with 19.52-percent share.
Others in the top five were Nissan Philippines Inc. with 12.35 percent, Honda Cars Philippines Inc. with 8.33 percent and Ford Motor Company Philippines Inc. with 6.9 percent.